/ 



3/S~ 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

AND 

RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY 

OF THE 

RED RACE. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



AND 



RESEARCHES 



INTO THE 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



BY 



ALEXANDER W. BRADFORD. 



NEW-YORK : 
DAYTON AND SAXTON, 

Corner of Fulton and Nassau-streets. 
BOSTON: SAXTON AND PIERCE. 
1841. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by 
ALEXANDER W. BRADFORD, 
i n the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
New- York. 




UNIVERSITY PRESS: 
JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 114 NASSAU- STREET. 




PREFACE. 



Antiquarian writings have so often been exposed to the charge 
of being replete with improbable conjectures, and conclusions which 
vanish at the touch of sober reason, that this interesting class of his- 
torical investigations seldom receives the perusal of the plain-think- 
ing portion of the public. It was but just, therefore, to the subject of 
this work, to draw a line of distinction between facts, and the reason- 
ing of the author upon those facts. For this reason, in the first por- 
tion of this volume, with but few exceptions, I have strictly confined 
myself to a description of the ancient American monuments, pursuing, 
in as faithful a manner as was consistent with proper brevity, the lan- 
guage of my authorities ; and thus affording to the reader an oppor- 
tunity to frame his own conclusions, and to test the accuracy of mine. 
Mr. Stephens' travels in Central America were published so recently, 
that I have been unable to use them with advantage ; but they have 
been so extensively read, that this deficiency is of the less moment. 

In the second part of this work an attempt is made to solve some 
interesting problems of ancient aboriginal history. These involve 
topics of so diversified a character, are so extensive in their bearings, 
and are predicated upon so many and various proofs, that in many 
cases it was found incompatible with my proposed limits, to do more 
than illustrate the several propositions by a portion of the testimo- 
nies. Many of them may therefore be considered as brief statements 
necessary to the chain of argument, and as capable of further proof. 
As to the conclusions which have been attained no one can be more 
alive than myself to the fact, that in many cases they are opposed to 



6 



PREFACE. 



the usually received opinions upon these subjects. In relation to the 
question of origin, no predisposition in favor of the result to which I 
have arrived, has influenced the investigation; for, biased at the out- 
set strongly towards the theory of a migration by Behring's straits, 
it was only at a later stage of the examination, and after a long strug- 
gle, that I was forced to abandon this idea ; — with what reason others 
must determine. After all, the inquiry, by what route the aborigines 
reached our shores, is one of minor importance. It is a fact upon 
which little depends ; in view of the extensive diffusion of the Red 
race over the eastern hemisphere, it cannot be of much consequence, 
whether they came across the Atlantic, or the southern or northern 
Pacific. In either case, by other proofs their antiquity is not less 
certain ; the primitive character of their institutions and civilization 
is not the less demonstrable ; and at the most, it could affect only 
some problems connected with their internal history. 

Few can be more sensible than myself of the imperfections of this 
work, or feel more its defects in point of research. Having had no 
opportunity of consulting several scarce authorities, I am aware that 
more light might have been thrown upon many of the points it dis- 
cusses. My chief consolation has been, that even the humblest con- 
tributions to so interesting and noble a theme would be received with 
kindness. Just criticism, however, is essential to the elucidation of 
truth, and is to be deprecated least of all upon topics still deeply en- 
enveloped in mystery and doubt. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Introduction, . 9 

PART I.— AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 
CHAPTER I. 

Indian Antiquities, 15 

CHAPTER II. 

Ancient Remains in the United States, 21 

CHAPTER III. 

The same subject continued, ....... 34 

CHAPTER IV. 

The same subject continued, ....... 51 

CHAPTER V. 

Antiquities in Mexico and the adjacent States, . ... .72 
CHAPTER VI. 

Antiquities in South America, 123 

PART II.— RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND HIS- 
TORY OF THE RED RACE. 

CHAPTER I. 

Comparison of the Ancient Monuments, 163 

CHAPTER II. 

Ancient Civilization. — Aboriginal Migrations, .... 172 
CHAPTER III. 

Aboriginal Migrations, 199 



8 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Page 

The Routes of Migration, 215 

CHAPTER V. 

Ancient Navigation and the Drifting of Vessels, . . . 220 
CHAPTER VI. 

The Origin of the Aborigines. — Physical Appearance, . . 238 

CHAPTER VII. 
The same subject continued. — Language, 309 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The same subject continued. — Astronomy, . . . .315 

CHAPTER IX. 

The same subject continued. — Religion, 339 

CHAPTER X. 

The same subject continued, 365 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Pyramids, 420 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Conclusion, . .430 



ERRATA. 



Page 32, line 


1, 




dele 


the. 


" 53, " 


19, 


for 


620, read 


120. 




21, 


u 


Teote, " 


Teotl. 


" 99, « 


5, 




Itzlan, " 


Itzalan. 


" 200, " 


19, 


({ 


Olmees, " 


Olmecs. 


« 216, 


19, 




Dialogues, " 


Dialogue. 


« 247, 


11, 


« 


Barabba, 


Barabra. 


« 265, « 


17, 




Forquemada, " 


Torque mada. 


" 371, 


27, 


a 


Propylcea, 


Propyla. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The term History, in its usual acceptation, is somewhat 
restricted in its scope and application. If its extent were 
strictly limited to authentic narratives and records, such have 
been the results of time, of accidents, and of barbarian violence, 
that only a small portion of the human race has preserved any 
very ancient written memorials ; and, with the exception of the 
historical facts contained in the Sacred Volume, we should be 
left in ignorance of the most important occurrences of the early 
ages of the world. Thus of necessity are mankind impelled, in 
the gratification of a laudable curiosity, to examine other chan- 
nels by which the events of remote antiquity may have been 
transmitted, and to study and compare the languages, customs, 
traditions, science, religion and monuments of nations. It is 
true, researches of this character do not always afford certain 
and definite conclusions; but frequently this arises from the 
method of conducting the argument, or from the insufficiency 
of the data, and not necessarily from the essential nature of the 
testimony. And even when sound conclusions cannot be 
attained, the interest of the subject compensates, in some 
degree, for the want of success ; for these studies lead directly 

2 



10 



INTRODUCTION. 



into the investigation of the greatest problems of human his- 
tory — the origin, affiliation, and migrations of nations, the 
progress of society, civilization, knowledge and religion. 

And if "the development of the human race is history," 
where is that development more clearly exhibited, than in the 
monuments, and in the civil and religious institutions of man- 
kind ? The character of a people is to be read in their archi- 
tectural productions, — their dwellings unfold their domestic 
manners, and often the relative condition of different classes in 
society, — the monuments erected to the memory of the illustri- 
ous dead disclose those traits of humanity held in esteem and 
honor, — the cemeteries tend to exhibit their belief as to a 
future existence, and the temples and places of worship to 
denote their religious ideas. Monumental antiquities perpetu- 
ate also epochs and occurrences, as well as national character- 
istics. Truth-telling remnants, which have escaped the ship- 
wreck of time, or rather the organic remains of history, they 
often indicate those great changes and convulsions which have 
occurred, as well in the social as in the physical world, and 
expose in outline the leading events of primeval ages. 

Tradition and mythology are no less valuable aids in the 
elucidation of ancient history. Though, when isolated, of 
doubtful authority, in combination they cement and perfect an 
historical fabric, the parts of which, incomplete of themselves, 
are harmonized and strengthened by union. It is known that 
the mythological systems of the ancients were but the expres- 
sion of certain religious ideas, sometimes interwoven with cos- 
mogonical philosophy, or were descriptive of real events trans- 
formed into theological fables. "In these, and in traditions, 
whereof some are as old as the deluge, should we search for 



INTRODUCTION. 



11 



the relics of the history of knowledge and civilization, to extri- 
cate them from the mass of folly and superstition in which they 
are enshrouded. The ore lies deep, but not beyond reach ; and 
though, from the very nature of things, success cannot be imme- 
diate, the difficulties to be encountered are such as more exten- 
sive research may hereafter overcome. 

Kor should the inestimable worth of the results of such 
inquiries, when successful, be forgotten during the process of 
investigation. The details, often perhaps dry and wearisome, 
are still necessary steps in the progress towards a just conclu- 
sion, and should be borne with patiently, as a portion of that 
burden which knowledge always imposes upon those engaged 
in her pursuit. Their gradual and successive development is 
just as essential, to the solution of these interesting questions, as 
were the slow, minute and laborious calculations of mathemati- 
cians, to the discovery of the sublime truths of astronomy. Like 
the base of some ancient column, covered with fallen fragments 
almost defying the efforts of the explorer to restore it to its 
former light and glory, primitive history is hidden deep amid 
the gloom of time and the crumbling ruins of antiquity, to be 
revealed only by patient inquiry and unwearied zeal. 

These remarks are peculiarly applicable to the elucidation 
of American Aboriginal History, by means of the traditions, 
monuments and institutions of its native inhabitants. Investi- 
gations of this character, always involving subjects of rational 
curiosity, replete with useful instruction, and of great moral and 
historical moment, rise in value and dignity when appertaining 
to the whole aboriginal population of a vast continent, probably 
untrodden by any other race of human beings, until a period 
comparatively recent in the annals of the world. And yet they 



12 



INTRODUCTION. 



unfold a page in history possessing no startling dramatic inter- 
est, adorned with none of the glare and tinsel of the eccentrici- 
ties of genius, unemblazoned with the achievements of ambition, 
and diversified with none of the thrilling incidents of personal 
adventure ; but they rather appeal to the unbeguiled judgment 
of the reason by their intrinsic worth, as the only method, in 
the absence of higher testimony, of obtaining any just deduc- 
tions, as restoring the lost and broken link of ancient connection 
between the old and new worlds, and as tending to perfect that 
chain, by which all mankind are traced to one head and bound 
together by the ties of a common origin. It is with deep 
impressions of this nature, that the future exploration of Ameri- 
can antiquities should be urged ; for we are as yet but upon the 
threshold, and though sufficient has already been unveiled for 
some rational conclusions, the cause of philosophy and know- 
ledge demands a more accurate, thorough and extensive exam- 
ination of monuments that are fast yielding to the despoiling 
hand of man and the attacks of time. From the vague and 
often exaggerated descriptions of some of the early travellers, 
and from the conduct of the conquerors of the semi-civilized 
nations of Mexico, Central America, Bogota and Peru, infor- 
mation of incalculable value has been lost to us. It is impos- 
sible without the deepest regret and indignation to revert to 
that period, when ancient pictorial manuscripts were burned, 
idols, images and planispheres destroyed or buried in the earth, 
temples levelled with the ground and cities razed — all from the 
lowest motives of policy, or from the blind zeal of superstition. 
A frightful chasm has thus been made in the primitive history 
of this continent, irremediable if we contemp]ate merely the 
immense number of Mexican picture-writings that were wick- 



INTRODUCTION. 



13 



edly destroyed. It is possible, however, yet to remedy in a 
great measure the evil, so far as occasioned by this wanton 
demolition of architectural and monumental structures, by a 
careful examination of those which have escaped the violence 
of the Spanish conquest; and the subject is one eminently 
worthy of American enterprise. — To embody and collate the 
descriptions of the most remarkable of the ancient remains and 
ruins scattered over the continent ; to compare the traditions, 
manners, customs, arts, language, civilization and religion of 
its aboriginal inhabitants, internally, and with those of other 
nations ; and thence to deduce the origin of the American race 
and its subsequent migrations, — in a word, to attempt the deter- 
mination of a portion of its unwritten history, is the object of 
this work ; and if, in any event, it shall serve to stimulate curi- 
osity and inquiry upon this interesting subject, at least one 
important purpose will have been accomplished. 



PART I. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, 



CHAPTER I. 

INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 

The ancient remains of art existing in America may be 
divided into two great classes, differing in style, character and 
importance. The first class comprehends those of more recent 
origin, which have manifestly proceeded from an uncivilized 
people, and which may be traced throughout the whole extent 
of the continent. They possess the same uniformity of charac- 
ter, that distinguishes the manners and institutions of all the 
barbarous Indian tribes, and most of them are doubtless of 
Indian construction. They consist chiefly of ornaments, rude 
inscriptions, and paintings not unlike the semi-hieroglyphic 
symbols at present employed by some of the aboriginal nations, 
and of such implements of warfare and domestic use, as are 
adapted to the wants of savage life ; and yet they exhibit indi- 
cations of that mechanical talent and dexterity which have been 
observed as a peculiar trait of nearly all the American natives.* 

* Archeeologia Americana, vol. i. pp. 112, 113, 114.-— Bracken- 
ridge's Journal, p. 153. 



16 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



Specimens of aboriginal art and ingenuity are being con- 
tinually disinterred, in the progress of the cultivation of newly 
occupied lands, and they vary but slightly from those fabricated 
by the present tribes, evincing no evidences of a superior state 
of society. Their proximity to the surface of the earth affords 
one clue to distinguish them from such as can boast of a higher 
antiquity, which are usually found some distance beneath the 
soil. The domestic utensils, flint arrow-heads, stone ornaments, 
pipes, chisels, knives and tomahawks thus brought to light sel- 
dom surpass, in workmanship and design, those of acknowledged 
Indian manufacture, and of more modern date. An inferior 
kind of earthenware is of very usual occurrence, but its compo- 
sition is more rude, and its execution less finished than those of 
the ancient pottery, while it does not excel such as the Indians 
have been accustomed to construct.* 

There are no indications of any military or architectural 
structures, exhibiting much art, which can be clearly assigned 
to the present tribes.f Some fortifications and intrenchments 
have been ascribed to them, but merely by conjecture; and 
their dwellings are usually formed of the most fragile materials. 
The Esquimaux afford, however, an exception in the latter 
particular ; for the remains of their habitations are frequently to 
be observed in small rude circles of rough stones, and trenched 
divisions of ground in a circular form.J Their method of con- 

* Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, p. 200. — Charlevoix's Voyage, 
vol. ii. p. 93. — " The nations of the south had only vessels of baked 
earth to dress their meat." Charlevoix, ibid. 

f Description of Ohio, Louisiana, &c, p. 172. — Pike's Expedition, 
p. 56. 

I Back's Narrative, p. 253.— Parry's Second Voyage, p. 15. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



17 



structing their huts is also worthy of notice. They are built 
with blocks of snow, in the shape of a dome, each block being 
cut with great regularity and art, into the shape requisite to 
form a substantial arch, and having no support whatever but 
what this principle supplies.* It may be remarked, also, that 
the Esquimaux are accustomed to place stones and slabs in an 
upright position, in every conspicuous spot, some of which have 
been compared to obelisks. Similar monuments have been 
observed in other districts of the continent ; but they are all 
unhewn, extremely rude, and bear no inscriptions.f 

Many of the tumuli formed of earth, and occasionally of 
stones, are of Indian origin, and they may generally be distin- 
guished by their inferior dimensions, and isolated situations. 
They are mostly sepulchral mounds : either the general ceme- 
tery of a village or tribe ; funeral monuments over the grave of 
an illustrious chief, or upon a battle-field, commemorating the 
event and entombing the fallen; or the result of a custom, 
prevalent among some of the tribes, of collecting at stated in- 
tervals the bones of the dead, and interring them in a common 
repository. A mound of the latter description was formerly 
situated on the low grounds of the Rivanna river, in Virginia, 
opposite the site of an old Indian village.]; It was forty feet 
in diameter and twelve in height, of a spheroidal form, and sur- 
rounded by a trench, whence the earth employed in its erection 
had been excavated. The circumstances indicating the custom 
alluded to, were the great number of skeletons, their confused 
position, their situation in distinct strata exhibiting different 

* Parry's Second Voyage, p. 34. 

| Back's Narrative, p. 273.— Hodgson's Travels, vol. ii, App. p. 434. 
t Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, pp. 100, 103. 

3 



18 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

stages of decomposition, and the appearance of the bones of 
infants. A mound of similar character, and constructed in 
layers or strata at successive periods, existed near the south 
branch of the Shenandoah, in the same state. 

There are other tumuli ascribed to the Indians, consisting 
of stones thrown rudely together, but they are less frequent than 
those formed of earth. One of these, upon the Blue Ridge, 
upon being opened was found to contain human bones ; and 
another, in New York, is said to have marked the grave 
of a distinguished warrior.* The size of all of them is not 
invariably diminutive, as we are informed that Fort Watson, in 
South Carolina, was built upon the summit of one upwards of 
thirty feet in height ;f and, according to an authentic report, a 
mound of the largest dimensions has been thrown up within a 
few years, in Illinois, over the remains of an eminent chief, t 

So materially have the customs and institutions of the In- 
dians been changed since the discovery, that most of these tumuli 
are of considerable age, and it has even been doubted, whether 
they were constructed by the immediate ancestors of the present 
Indians ; but it appears, from a very respectable authority, that 
many tribes still continue to this day to raise a tumulus over the 
grave, the magnitude of which is proportioned to the rank and 
celebrity of the deceased.§ We find these mounds scattered at 
intervals over the surface of both Americas, from the country of 



* Macauley's History of New York, vol. ii. p. 239. 

t Ramsay's History of the United States, vol. ii. p. 34. 

\ Beck's Gazetteer, p. 308. 

§ James, vol. ii. p. 1. — Description of the Red River, p. 152. — 
Brackenridge's View of Louisiana, p. 137. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



19 



the Esquimaux to that of the Fuegians ;* and though neither 
by their size nor their contents, do they impress us with a high 
opinion of the civilization of their authors, still they shed some 
light upon their ancient history. If the Indians are the branches 
and descendants of a more civilized people, and have retrograded 
from a higher condition of society — an opinion supported by 
many curious facts — we may expect to find the greatest differ- 
ences between them, and their more civilized ancestors, in such 
circumstances as are always affected by a change in mode of 
life ; and to discover the strongest signs of affinity, if any, in 
religious belief, and in such customs as are arbitrary, and not 
the spontaneous and natural growth of a particular state of 
society . v Accordingly we can trace a few such resemblances 
in their productions of art, and in their domestic manners ; but 
the moment we contemplate their religion, and, above all, their 
method of disposing of the dead and their sepulchral monuments, 
a great and striking uniformity is exhibited. Reverence for the 
dead, though it be a feeling common to all mankind, and natural 
to the human heart, is a most marked and distinguishing trait 
in the character of the members of the Red race — not however 
as a sentiment, but as a religious and mystic feeling, springing 
less from the kindly affections of the soul, than from a supersti- 
tious impression, deeply imprinted in the very elements of their 
character.^ Even among such barbarous native tribes, as possess 
the lowest estimate of social virtues and duties, and as are char- 
acterized by the most savage indifference and selfishness in all 
the near and tender relations of life, the moment the spirit has 
left the body, a new chord seems to be struck in the hearts of 



* Parry's Voyages. — Silliman. 



20 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



the survivors, and those, who were neglected and perhaps hated 
when living, are venerated in death ; and thus monuments have 
been reared over the bones of the departed, which, when alive 
and in the full tide of successful power and commanding influ- 
ence, they could not have extorted as tributes of respect or 
obedience. Amid the barren waste of Indian apathy, here is a 
green spot whereon to rest the eye — a singular exception to 
that impenetrable, obdurate stoicism, possessed by them, in com- 
mon with the more cultivated nations of the same race. Herein 
we perceive the reason, why the tumuli are the only monuments 
of the Indians ; for with this religious feeling, as transmitted to 
them from their forefathers, they have also preserved the custom 
of erecting sepulchral mounds. In this view, these rude monu- 
ments are of important consideration ; for, appearing alike, 
among the remains of art, and in the seats of the ancient civil- 
ized nations, and in remote regions whither civilization never 
penetrated, they develope one of the arguments tending to 
establish the common origin of all the American aborigines, 
whether barbarous or cultivated. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



21 



CHAPTER II. 

ANCIENT REMAINS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The next, and perhaps the only legitimate class of American 
antiquities, affords unquestionable proofs of an origin from na- 
tions of great cultivation. Though all of them are assimilated 
by many striking general resemblances, still their local position 
and some characteristic differences suggest a ternary division, 
into such as have been discovered, 1st, within the territory of 
the United States ; 2d, in Central America, Mexico and the 
adjoining provinces ; and 3d, in Peru and other parts of South 
America. 

1. The ancient remains of the United States bear evident 
marks of being the production of a people, elevated far above 
the savage state. Many of them indicate great elegance of 
taste, and a high degree of dexterous workmanship and me- 
chanical skill, in their construction ; others betoken the exist- 
ence of a decided form of religious worship ; while the size 
and extent of the earthen fortifications and mounds demonstrate 
the former existence of populous nations, capable of executing 
works of enormous dimensions, requiring perseverance, time 
and combination of labor for their erection. 

A detail of these vestiges of that vast population, which once 
occupied the richest agricultural portion of our country, though 
minute and circumstantial, cannot be devoid of interest; and in 



22 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

any event these relics demand attention, as the monuments of 
an ancient and perhaps enlightened species of the human race, 
whence, in the absence of clearer testimony, we must endeavor 
to gather materials for their history. 

The first class of these antiquities is composed of articles of 
mechanical workmanship, which have most frequently been 
discovered within the graves, mounds, and mural remains ; and 
of other objects, of a miscellaneous character. The art of pottery 
is one of very early invention, as fragments of earthenware are 
found among the oldest ruins of the world. Its productions, 
though fragile, have withstood the effects of time more durably 
than the most massive structures, and specimens still exist entire, 
coeval in date with the remotest periods of civilization. Those 
found in the United States, of ancient construction, are of differ- 
ent qualities and dimensions — some, by estimate from fragments, 
having been of large capacity.* The chalk banks below the 
mouth of the Ohio river have contained several of great merit 
in execution, and a pitcher, which has been discovered there, is 
said to resemble the Scyphus of the ancients.f Its model was 
the bottle-gourd ; the neck is moulded in imitation of that of a 
woman with clubbed hair ; the outlet resembles a distorted 
human mouth; and the whole vessel, though formed by the 
hand, is modelled with great nicety and precision.! 

An earthen vessel found at Nashville, Tennessee, twenty 
feet below the surface, is described as being circular, with a flat 
bottom rounding upwards, and terminating at the summit in 
the figure of a female head. The features of the face are 

* Flint's Recollections, p. 166. f Ibid. pp. 173. 174. 

I Archseologia Americana, vol. i. p. 214. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 23 

Asiatic, the head is covered by a conical cap, and the ears are 
large, extending as low as the chin. The most curious speci- 
men of pottery is that denominated the Tmme-vessel, which 
was disinterred from the earth, near an ancient work upon the 
Cumberland river.* It consists of three heads, joined together at 
the back, near the top, by a hollow stem or bottle. The heads 
are of the same dimensions, and represent very accurately three 
different countenances, two appearing young and the other old. 
The faces are partly painted with red and yellow, the colors 
still preserving great brilliancy. The features are distinguished 
by thick lips, high cheek-bones, the absence of a beard, and 
the pointed shape of the head. An idolf discovered in a tumulus 
at Nashville presents the figure of a man without arms, and the 
nose and chin mutilated. The head is covered with a fillet and 
cake, and the hair is plaited : — The composition is of fine clay 
mixed with gypsum. Colored medalsj representing the sun 
with its rays, other idols of various forms, and urns containing 
calcined human bones, some modelled after the most elegant 
and graceful patterns, have been found in the mounds. The 
fragments of earthenware, discovered at great depths near the 
western salt-works, are often of immense size. A large vessel, 
of coarse description, has been found there, eighty feet below 
the surface, of capacity to hold ten gallons ; while others have 
been excavated at greater depths, and of larger dimensions. 
Within a mound lately opened at Lancaster, in Ohio, upon a 
furnace disposed at the level of the earth, there rested the largest 
ancient vessel yet discovered. It was eighteen feet long, six 



* Archseologia Americana, vol. i. p.- 238. 
t Ibid. vol. i. p. 211. J Ibid. vol. i. p. 243. 



24 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



broad, composed of clay and broken shells, and moulded on 
both sides with much smoothness.* 

These articles of pottery vary much in their structure. The 
material is either simply clay — that substance united with pul- 
verized sandstone or calcareous matter — or a composition, as 
well calculated, as our chemical vessels, to encounter a high 
degree of heat, and formed upon scientific principles.! Some 
of them appear to have been painted before burning, are skil- 
fully wrought and polished, well glazed and burned, and are 
inferior to our own manufactures in no respect. There exist 
other specimens, of ancient origin, corroborating this view of 
the chemical knowledge of their authors. At Hamburg, in the 
state of New York, within an urn in the interior of a mound, 
curious beads have been found deposited, consisting of transpa- 
rent green glass, covered with an opaque red enamel, beneath 
which and in the tube of the bead was a beautiful white enamel, 
indicative of great art in its formation. J On opening an old 
grave at Big River, in the state of Missouri, whose antiquity 
was sufficiently attested by a heavy growth of forest trees over 
the spot, beads of similar shape, appearance and composition 
have also been brought to light.§ 

The bricks discovered in the mounds appear to have been 
formed after the modern method, and are well burnt; those 
found in the ancient fortifications are of similar construction and 
appearance, with the exception of possessing a lighter color. 

* Trans. Fairfield Co. Med. Soc. 
f Schoolcraft's Mississippi, p. 202. 

J Schoolcraft's View of the Mines and Minerals of the West, &c. 
p. 280. 

§ Ibid. pp. 169, 283.— Beck's Gazetteer, p. 261. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



25 



The art of working in stone, and other hard substances, was 
carried to a considerable degree of perfection by this people ; 
and beads of bone and shell, carved bones, and hewn and 
sculptured stones are by no means rare. Their weapons and 
implements were often formed from the oldest and hardest of 
rocks ; and arrow-heads, axes and hatchets of granite, and horn- 
blende, nicely cut and polished, are of frequent occurrence. 
The covers of some of the urns are composed of calcareous 
breccia, skilfully wrought ;* the pieces of stone w T orn as orna- 
ments, and found interred with the dead, have been drilled and 
worked into precise shapes, and the pipe-bowls are adorned 
with beautifully carved reliefs.f An idol of stone, representing 
the human features, has been found at Natchez, the sculptured 
head and beak of a rapacious bird in a mound at Cincinnati, 
and an owl carved in stone at Columbus, Ohio. The most sin- 
gular of these sculptures has been discovered on the banks of the 
Mississippi, near St. Louis. This is a tabular mass of limestone 
bearing the impression of two human feet. The rock is a com- 
pact limestone of grayish-blue color, containing the encrinite, 
echinite, and other fossils. The feet are quite flattened, but the 
muscular marks are delineated with great precision. Immedi- 
ately before the feet lies a scroll, sculptured in a similar style.J 
The opinion sometimes entertained, that these are actual 
impressions of the human feet, made upon a soft substance 
subsequently indurated, is incorrect; on the contrary, they 
are undoubtedly the result of art, and exhibit an extraordi- 



* Archaeologia Americana, vol. i. p. 227. 
t Ibid. vol. i. p. 230. + Schoolcraft. 

4 



26 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



nary analogy with similar appearances in Asia and in Central 
America.* 

Ancient inscriptions upon rocks have also been observed. 
Dr. Barton examined some, on a large stratum of rock upon the 
east shore of the Ohio, about fifty miles below Pittsburg, and 
found them in great numbers, and apparently " the work of a 
people acquainted with the use of iron instruments, or with 
hardened metallic instruments of some kind."f 

Upon one of the branches of the Tennessee river are per- 
pendicular rocks, on which, more than one hundred feet above 
the present high-water mark, are representations of beasts, birds, 
and other figures.! 

Near the confluence of the Elk and Kenhawa rivers, in the 
western part of Virginia, Bishop Madison observed some re- 
markable remains of sculpture. Upon the surface of a rock of 
freestone lying on the margin of the river, about twelve feet in 
length and nine in breadth, he saw the outlines of several figures, 
cut without relief, except in one instance, and somewhat larger 
than the life. The depth of the outline was about half an inch, 
and its width three quarters, nearly, in some places. " In one 
line, ascending from the part of the rock nearest the river, there 
is a tortoise ; a spread eagle executed with great expression, 
particularly the head, to which is given a shallow relief; and a 
child, the outline of which is very well drawn. In a parallel 
line there are other figures, but among them that of a woman 
only can'be traced : these are very indistinct. Upon the side 

* It is asserted that similar sculptures have been found elsewhere 
in Missouri. — N. Am. Review. 

| Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vol. iv. p. 195. J lb. vol. hi. p. 219. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



27 



of the rock there are two awkward figures which particularly 
caught my attention. One is that of a man, with his arms 
uplifted and hands spread out, as if engaged in prayer. His 
head is made to terminate in a point, or rather he has the 
appearance of something upon the head of a triangular or coni- 
cal form : near to him is another singular figure, suspended by 
a cord fastened to his heels." " A turkey, badly executed, with 
a few other figures, may also be seen. The labor and the per- 
severance requisite to cut those rude figures in a rock, so hard 
that steel appeared to make but little impression upon it, must 
have been great, much more so than making of enclosures in a 
loose and fertile soil."* 

Many metallic remains have also been discovered among 
the ancient ruins, some quite perfect, and others in a state of 
decomposition. Copper appears to have been in the most gen- 
eral use. It has been found in the mounds, either in irregular 
masses or worked into various forms, and sometimes plated 
with silver. Arrow-heads, bracelets, circular plates or medals, 
beads, a cross, and pipe-bowls, all composed of this metal, have 
been disinterred from the tumuli.f 

One of the ancient mounds at Marietta, Ohio, was situated 
on the margin of a stream, which had gradually washed away 
the surrounding soil and part of the structure itself, when a 
silver cup was observed in the side of the mound. Its form was 
extremely simple, and resembled some of the earthenware pat- 
terns, being an inverted cone. It consisted of solid silver, its 
surfaces were smooth and regular, and its interior w T as finely 
gilded. J 

* Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vol. vi. pp. 141, 142. 

f Arch. Am. vol. i. p. 224. J Schoolcraft's View, p. 276. 



28 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

In Salem, Washington county, Ohio, it is said that ancient 
marks of tools have been observed upon pieces of rock, and 
that in one mass of stone an iron wedge has been discovered, 
firmly imbedded.* Except from this instance, and the occa- 
sional presence of pieces of oxidized iron in the mounds, we 
have no evidence showing directly whether this valuable metal 
was in use. In Liberty, Washington count}-, Ohio, are the 
ruins of several stone furnaces, constructed with hearths of clay, 
and containing pieces of mineral coal and cinders.f It has been 
thought that the purpose of these works was explained by their 
locality in a rich iron region ; but this is the only reason for 
conjecturing they were used in the manufacture of iron, and 
one manifestly of slight weight. The wedge of iron found at 
Salem, in the same county, was probably not of ancient origin ; 
at least, it needs very accurate and close examination before so 
important a fact can be admitted. Candor seems to demand, 
notwithstanding the exertions made to establish the use of iron 
among the authors of the mounds and fortifications, that the 
supposition is supported by no positive testimony, and by little 
that is even reasonably conjectural ; while at the same time we 
should be careful, in deciding so interesting a question, to bear 
in mind that the perishable nature of this metal, when exposed 
to the atmosphere or moisture, would probably have destroyed 
all vestiges of its use at the distant period when the mounds 
were erected. 

Circumstances favor the idea, that the authors of the western 
antiquities were in the habit of working many of the salt springs, 
for the manufacture of that article. t At the state salt-works in 

* Delafield's Topographical Description, p. 28. 

t lb. p. 23. i Van Rensselaer's Essay. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



29 



Illinois occurs a large excavation, four hundred feet in circumfer- 
ence, in which a deep well has formerly been sunk. In digging 
at this place, ashes, and fragments of pottery were discovered 
in great abundance ; and a drain has been found, so connected 
with the works, as to justify the inference of its being intended 
to carry away the surplus water. The earthenware found here 
is at vast depths below the surface, and it resembles in com- 
position the specimens occurring in the ancient mounds. At 
Harrisonville, in St. Clair county, and near the Ohio saline, the 
presence of broken pottery and other appearances authorize 
similar conclusions ; particularly the shape of the vessels, 
which may very well have served as evaporators.* 

The antiquities discovered in the western caves are of a 
remarkable character, and have excited much speculation. 
They cannot be ascribed to the present tribes of Indians, in con- 
sequence of the very general reverence in which caverns are 
held by them. They view them with deeply superstitious feel- 
ings, esteeming them as the residence of the Great Spirit, and 
never appearing there for any other purpose, than for the occa- 
sional celebration of solemn, religious festivals.! In the saltpetre 
caves of Gasconade county, Missouri, axes, hammers and other 
implements have been found, which are probably of identical 
origin with some ancient works in the vicinity. Below the 
falls of St. Anthony is another cavern, distinguished for its 
great length, and called, in the Indian language, " The dwell- 
ing of the Great Spirit." The walls are composed of a soft 
stone, easily yielding to the knife, and they contain many hie- 

* Beck's Gazetteer, pp. 68, 118. 

t lb. pp. 43, 98, 234.— Carver's Travel's, p. 4S. 



30 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

roglyphical figures, so covered with moss and defaced by time, 
as to be traced with great difficulty * 

Within the saltpetre cave in Warren county, Tennessee, two 
bodies have been discovered, interred in a sitting posture in 
baskets made of cane, the hip joints dislocated, and the legs 
brought up close to the bodp One of them was a male and 
the other a female. Great care had manifestly been taken to 
secure them a durable preservation, and at the period of discov- 
ery the flesh, teeth, hair and nails were still entire. They were 
enveloped in dressed deer-skins, and in a species of cloth, of 
firm texture, woven from the fibres of the nettle, or from bark, 
and overlaid with the most brilliant feathers of various hues, 
symmetrically arranged : another covering, of undressed deer- 
skin, succeeded, and the exterior wrapper was cloth of the same 
kind, but unornamented. The female had a fan in her hand, 
composed of turkey feathers so disposed, that it might be opened 
and closecLf 

Human bodies have been discovered near the Cumberland 
river, in the same state ; in the nitrous caves near Glasgow, 
and in the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky ; all placed in the 
same sitting position, clothed in skins and cloths of various 
textures, inlaid with feathers — the bodies remaining in a high 
state of preservation, and the hair generally of a color varying 
from brown to yellow and red.t This last peculiarity has given 
rise to many fanciful conjectures concerning the race to which 

* Carver's Travels, p. 48. 

- H5.~2.r2 s Temessee. ~:1. il. p. 1:3. — Fl;r.:'s Rec -/-lections, p. 
173. — Archasologia Americana, vol. L p. 303. 
t Medical Repository; voL xf> p. 187. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



31 



the skeletons may be ascribed.* Within the same caves many 
other miscellaneous articles have been found, far below the 
surface,— such as bows and arrows, earthenware, fishing nets, 
cloths, mats, cane baskets, beads, wooden cups, moccasons of 
bark, various utensils and relics indicative of the character of 
the deceased with whom they were buried ; and, more singular 
still, the bones of the peccari or Mexican hog, an animal not 
indigenous to the United States, but belonging to the more 
southern climates. In general, these caves have been great 
cemeteries of the dead, for bodies are being continually disin- 
terred from the earth within them, and more than a hundred 
human skulls have been counted in one cave, within a space of 
twenty feet square.f 

With regard to the color of the hair observed upon these 
bodies, it has been unreasonably considered, as sustaining the 
theory of the European origin of the ancient inhabitants of the 
^•est. The probabilities are, however, that its original hue 
was black, and that the change to its present appearance is 
owing to the chemical action of the saltpetrous earth in which 
the bodies were deposited.J In corroboration of this view, some 
human remains found in Peruvian sepulchres may be referred 
to : several of these tombs examined in 1790, by the Spaniards, 
contained bodies in an entire condition, but withered and dried, 
and the hair of a red color. From their position and other 
accompanying circumstances, they were undoubtedly the re- 

* Archseologia Americana, vol. i. p. 304. 
f Silliman's Journal, vol. i. p. 622. 

X A similar phenomenon has sometimes been observed in the 
appearance of the Egyptian mummies, the hair having been changed 
in color, from black to red. — Wilkinson's Egypt, p. 370. 



32 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

mains of the Peruvian Indians, the change in the hair having 
probably arisen from the character of the soil, it being strongly 
impregnated with saline matter.* 

The graves of the ancient inhabitants appear usually in the 
vicinity of the earthen remains and mounds, and when they are 
not within tumuli, frequently consist of a rude species of stone 
coffin, in which the deceased has been interred in a sitting pos- 
ture. Such are the graves in Missouri, upon the Merrimack 
river, concerning which so much speculation has been indulged.! 
They were a short distance from several mounds, and a ruined 
earthen rampart. The coffins were formed of six pieces of flat 
stone, were from twenty -three to fifty inches in length, and 
situated upon small hillocks. The skeletons were mostly de- 
cayed, or in such fragments as to render it somewhat difficult 
to ascertain their size and position. In one instance, however, 
the leg bones were found lying parallel with the thigh, a cir- 
cumstance explaining the diminutive size of the graves. Simi- 
lar graves have been opened and examined, in Tennessee, and 
in other parts of the western country,! all indicating that the 
body has not been disposed lengthwise, but placed with the 
legs drawn together close to the body, so as to occupy a very 
small compass. Nothing further need be said in relation to the 
idea of the Lilliputian stature of the ancient inhabitants. Other 
tombs have disclosed bones, which, from their size, have sug- 
gested the belief in a former race of giants — an opinion equally 
unfounded with the one just referred to, which it so strongly 
contradicts. § 

Numerous other articles have been discovered in the prose- 

* MS. Travels. f Beck's Gazetteer, p. 274. 

% Scientific Tracts, vol. iii. p. 157. § Beck's Gazetteer, p. 261. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 33 

cution of antiquarian researches in the regions of the west, but 
they afford no additional light concerning the state of the arts, 
or the customs, of those extinct nations from whom they have 
proceeded. 



5 



34 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



CHAPTER III. 

ANCIENT REMAINS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The second class of Antiquities in the United States, proceed- 
ing from the same ancient people, exhibits, in an extended view, 
decisive proof of the immense numbers and advanced social 
condition of their authors. It comprehends the Mural Remains, 
or enclosures — formed by earthen embankments and trenches; 
which appear most numerously in the district bordering upon 
the Mississippi and its branches, and in the vicinity of the great 
lakes and their tributaries ; though they may be found stretching 
at intervals from New-York to Florida, and from the Territory 
west of the Mississippi to the Alleghanies. A detail of some 
of the most remarkable ruins of this character, though exposed 
to a charge of tediousness, is highly important in developing a 
just and correct idea of the power and population of the former 
inhabitants of our country. 

The first work of this description meriting attention in the 
state of New- York, is one formerly existing on the Genessee 
river, which enclosed an area of about six acres. It was sur- 
rounded on three sides by a ditch running in a circular direction, 
which was intersected by six entrances ; on the other quarter a 
high bank formed a natural defence, through which a covered 
way led down to a neighboring stream. At a short distance to 
the south were similar works defended by a deeper fosse, and 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



35 



disposed upon a more eminent and inaccessible situation, com- 
bining artificial with natural advantages.* 

On the river Tonawande there was a place distinguished in 
the Seneca tongue by a word signifying " the double fortified 
town," or " a town with a fort at each end." These forts were 
separated by an interval of two miles ; the one containing about 
four, and the other eight acres of land. The ditch encompassing 
a part of the former was six feet deep, — a stream and a high 
bank, bisected by a covered way to the water, defending the 
remaining portion. The northern fortification was on elevated 
ground, and in proximity to it was a sepulchral mound, six 
feet in height, twenty-five feet in diameter, and containing 
bones, which appeared projecting in many places from its sur- 
face. The remains of another fortified town, containing more 
than Jive hundred acres, formerly existed in Pompey, Onondaga 
county : three circular or elliptical forts, disposed in a triangle, 
and distant from each other about eight miles, were its out- 
works.f At Camillus, in the same county, there were a few 
years since two elliptical forts, with gates, and with covered 
ways to the adjacent water. Another formerly stood upon the 
Seneca river, which was in the form of a parallelogram, two 
hundred and twenty yards in length, and fifty-five in breadth, 
with gates opening on either side, towards the river, and to the 
country. In its vicinity was a mound or elevation in the shape 
of a crescent, with its extremities turned towards the fort.J 
At least a hundred of these fortifications have been perceived 
in this state, stretching from the Delaware, through the region 

* Kirkland's MSS., cited in Yates and Moulton's Hist. -of New- 
York, vol. i. p. 16. 

f Clinton's Memoir. t New- York Magazine, 1792. 



36 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



occupied by the small lakes, to the ancient shores of lakes Onta- 
rio and Erie. They are mostly of regular forms, — oblong, cir- 
cular, triangular, or elliptical, — generally overgrown with large 
forest trees, and placed near streams or other bodies of water. 
With one doubtful exception, none have been found between 
the ancient beaches of Lakes Erie and Ontario and their present 
shores, though many of them run parallel with the former line 
of the lakes, — a circumstance favoring the idea of their high 
antiquity.* On the south side of lake Erie there is a series of 
these fortifications or enclosures extending, at intervals of a few 
miles, as far as the Pennsylvania boundary line ; nor do they 
terminate there, but in that state also they occur in great num- 
bers, to the westward of the Alleghany ridge, and are of a 
similar character with those just described, possessing no marks 
of peculiar difFerence.f 

In the western part of Virginia, these traces of the ancients 
may also be observed, particularly in that region which borders 
on the tributaries of the Ohio, and upon the low grounds of the 
Elk, Guyandot and Kenhawa rivers.t Near Wheeling there 
are appearances of fortifications or enclosures, commencing in 
the vicinity of the mounds upon Grave creek, and continuing at 
intermediate distances for ten or twelve miles along the banks 
of the Ohio.§ They consist of square and circular entrenchments 
communicating with each other, of ditches, walls and mounds, 
and a broad causeway leading from the largest enclosure to- 
wards the neighboring hills. || 

* Clinton's Memoir on the Antiquities of the Western part of 
New-York. f Arch. Amer., vol. i. p. 309. 

X Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, vol. vi. p. 134. § Ibid. vol. iii. p. 215. 
|| Silliman's Journal, vol. vi. p. 166. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



37 



Passing further to the south and into the state of Georgia, 
upon the banks of Little river, a branch of the Savannah, not far 
from the town of Wrightsborough, "many very magnificent 
monuments of the power and industry of the ancient inhabit- 
ants " have been remarked by an intelligent traveller.* They 
consist of a stupendous conical pyramid, vast tetragon terraces, 
and a large sunken or excavated area of a cubical form, encom- 
passed with banks of earth, and also traces of an extensive 
town. 

Upon the east bank of the Ocmulgee river, eighty miles 
above its confluence with the Oconee, upon the heights of the 
low grounds, are vestiges of an ancient town, such as artificial 
mounts or terraces, squares, and embankments encircling consi- 
derable areas. 

On the west bank of the Altamaha, nearly opposite to Da- 
rien,f are the remains of an ancient earthen structure. It is a 
regular tetragon terrace four feet high, with bastions at each 
angle, and surrounded with a ditch enclosing about an acre of 
ground. 

On the Savannah river, just above Petersburgh, upon a level 
plain near the bank of the river, are other ruins, consisting of 
several mounds and four square terraces. J The largest mound 
is conical, fifty feet high, eight hundred feet in circumference at 
the base, and its summit is truncated. A spiral path leads to 
the top, and there are four niches excavated out of the sides, at 
different heights, and fronting the cardinal points. Several 
mounds of inferior dimensions are disposed around it, and also 



* Bartram's Travels, p. 37. 

t Ibid. p. 323. 



f Ibid. p. 52. 



38 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



some terraces, three hundred feet square and from six to ten feet 
high * 

On the Chattahooche, upon a peninsula formed by the 
doubling of the river, there are mounds and enormous quadran- 
gular terraces ; in front of one of the latter is an extensive square 
enclosure surrounded with an earthen wall.f 

Upon the Etowah river is an excavation which sweeps in 
a large section of land, by bending towards the water in the 
form of a semi-circle ; there are no embankments, and the en- 
trances to the interior are made by interruptions of the exca- 
vated ditch, at certain regular intervals.! 

Many other groups of similar ruins occur in this state and 
in Alabama, and they seem to present a continuation of those 
existing in Florida, connecting them, in a northerly course, 
with the ancient remains in Tennessee and Ohio.§ 

Florida abounds in these relics of antiquity. Near Lake 
George formerly stood a large mound ; and in its vicinity were 
fields appearing to have been anciently cultivated, and also oak, 
palm, and orange groves. From this mound, two parallel 
walls, fifty yards asunder, led in a straight line to the verge of 
an oblong artificial lake distant three quarters of a mile.|| 

Upon one of the islands of Lake George, are the remains of 

* Bartram's Travels, p. 31. f Ibid. p. 388. 

% Silliman's Journal, vol. i. p. 322. 

§ " I was informed, by a gentleman in Tennessee, of the existence 
of a singular and antique stone fort on the summit of" a mountain, in 
Franklin county, Alabama, near Little Bear Creek, a tributary of 
Tennessee river — but have never read any notice of it" — Latrobe's 
Ramb. in N. Amer., vol. ii. p. 179. 

|| Bartram's Travels, p. 97. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



39 



a large town and a pyramidal mound, from which there pro- 
ceeds in a straight line to a large, green, level savanna, a high- 
way, formed of parallel walls resembling those just described ; 
fragments of earthenware, bones, and other remains abound in 
the neighborhood.* Near New Smyrna similar remains have 
been observed and monuments of the same character, often 
connected with artificial ponds or lakes, are to be perceived 
from the river St. John to the southern coast of Florida,! in 
great numbers and of various dimensions, — exhibiting, by their 
frequency and extent, all the signs of having been constructed 
by a populous nation. 

Having thus rapidly traversed the eastern boundary line of 
these earthen structures, upon turning to the west we find them 
in greater numbers, and of a more extraordinary character. 
Near Salem, Ashtabula county, Ohio, about three miles from 
Lake Erie, upon the Coneaught river, is an enclosure situated 
upon a hill, and surrounded with two concentric circular walls, 
a ditch intervening between them.§ There is but one gate- 
way, and from this a road leads to the water ; within the walls, 
earthenware and skeletons were found, and the whole place is 
covered with a thick growth of trees. 

At Marietta, within the city limits, some years since, there 
were two large, oblong enclosures, and a conical mound ; the 
largest of the enclosures contained forty, and the other twenty 
acres of ground.|| They were encompassed by ramparts of 
earth, from six to ten feet high, and thirty feet in breadth at 
the base, and on each side were three gateways, at equal 

* Bartram's Travels, p. 101. f Ibid. p. 142. 

| Ibid. p. 519. § Arch. Amer. vol. i. p. 124. 

|| Description of the Ohio River. — Harris's Tour, p. 149. 



40 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

distances apart. A sort of covert way, formed of two parallel 
walls, two hundred and thirty-one feet apart, defended the 
approach to the Muskingum; the walls were forty-two feet 
wide at the base, twenty-one feet high within, and five feet 
high on the outer sides. A line of smaller parallel walls leads 
down to the water from the corner of the fortification. Within 
the area enclosed, at the north-west corner, was an oblong ter- 
race, nine feet high ; at the middle of each of its sides the earth 
was projected, forming gradual ascents to the top, ten feet in 
width. Near the south wall was another terrace, nearly simi- 
lar ; at the south-east corner was another ; about the middle 
was a circular elevation ; and at the south-west corner was a 
semicircular parapet, covered with a mound, which guarded the 
gateway or entrance in that quarter. 

The other enclosure had a gateway in the middle of each 
side, and at the corners was defended by circular mounds. A 
short distance from its south-east side was a conical mound, one 
hundred and fifteen feet in diameter, thirty feet high, and sur- 
rounded by a ditch and embankment, through which there was 
a gateway opening towards the fortification. The mound was 
protected in addition by outworks, and parapets, and other 
mounds. There were also found here excavations, — originally 
of great size and depth, — still perceptible ; which were probably 
wells, and supplied the inhabitants with water. Upon a branch 
of the same river, ninety miles from Marietta, a series of works, 
consisting of entrenchments and mounds, extended about two 
miles in length, and the ramparts and mounds were of much 
greater height than those at Marietta.* 

Near Newark, in Licking county, another extensive succes- 

* Description of the Ohio River, p. 19.— Colum. Mag.. May, 1787. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 41 

sion of fortifications existed. Commencing upon the westerly 
side, there was a round fort containing twenty-two acres, on 
one side of which stood an elevated observatory, constructed 
partly of earth, and partly of stone, beneath which there 
appears to have been a secret passage-way to a neighboring 
stream upon the opposite side. This circular fort was connect- 
ed, by two parallel walls of earth, with an octagonal fort con- 
taining forty acres. The walls of the latter were ten feet high, 
and were cut by eight gateways, each of which was defended 
by a small mound of earth, or curtain, on the inside. Thence, 
on the one hand, parallel walls proceeded to the water ; on the 
other, towards the interior of the country, to the distance of 
several miles ; and in the middle, others ranged easterly, con- 
necting the works just described with the following :• — A square 
fort containing twenty acres, connected towards the south, by 
parallel w T alls, with a circular fort of twenty-six acres, encom- 
passed by an embankment from twenty-five to thirty feet high ; 
and towards the north, by two covered ways, with the neigh- 
boring stream. At the extremity of these covered ways, the 
former margin of the stream was defended for some distance by 
a wall, flanked at each end by elevated mounds of earth ; upon 
an elevated plateau to the north-east, protected likewise by an 
entrenchment, stood several tumuli, containing the remains of 
the dead. From a careful examination of the adjacent country, 
and the occurrence of similar walls at various intervals, it has 
been supposed these works were connected with others at 
Hockhocking river; thus forming one continuous line of de- 
fence, and preserving an open communication. 

At Circleville, Ohio, there were two earthen enclosures, one an 
exact circle, and the other a precise square, with its sides facing 

6 



42 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



the cardinal points, under no greater variation than that of the 
needle.* The square enclosure had eight entrances, equidistant, 
and all defended by circular mounds within; each side was 
fifty-nine rods in length, and the wall ten feet high. Upon its 
west side it was immediately connected with the circular enclo- 
sure, which was sixty-nine rods in diameter, and encompassed 
by double walls, twenty feet high, with a ditch intervening 
between them. In the centre of this circle was a mound, with 
a curious semicircular pavement on its eastern side ; and a short 
distance without the walls stood another mound, ninety feet 
high. 

In Warren county, on the banks of the Little Miami river, 
and between two of its branches, we find the summit of an 
elevated plain defended by walls, from ten to twenty feet in 
height; their course is irregular, and generally corresponds 
with the marginal line of the hilLf Upon the side facing the 
Miami, three terraces are cut out of the bank, and command 
the passage of the river. On the north-easterly side are two 
mounds, connected by broad parallel roads, or embankments, 
with a third standing at the distance of a quarter of a mile, 
around which the roads make a detour, and then meet. These 
works are constructed of earth, and have fifty-eight openings, 
or gateways. 

At Paint Creek, a short distance from Chillicothe, in the same 
state, were two series of ruins, on opposite sides of the stream.! 
That on the north side was protected by a square and by a cir- 
cular fort, and contained seventy-seven acres. Both without and 
within this area were several mounds, and also four large wells, 

* Arch. Amer.. vol. i. p. 141. f Ibid. vol. i.p. 156. 

X Ibid. vol. i. p. 145. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 43 

which still retain water. Among the mounds in the interior were 
two elliptical elevations, one twenty-five feet high, three hun- 
dred and thirty feet long, and one hundred and seventy feet 
broad, constructed of stones, and containing human bones ; and 
the other was from eight to fifteen feet high, and was formed 
with two stages or terraces ; the summits of both were level. 
Another work, in the form of a half-moon, was set round 
the edges with stones ; while near it stood a singular mound, 
five feet high and thirty in diameter, formed entirely of red 
ochre. 

The enclosure on the south side of the stream was also 
irregular; contained two mounds, one of them twenty feet high ; 
and was defended by a square fort, precisely of the same dimen- 
sions with that above described. 

To the east of both these fortifications, upon a rock}', pre- 
cipitous hill, a wall of unhewn stone, enclosing one hundred and 
thirty acres, has been thrown up around the edge of the summit, 
with two gateways, one opening directly towards the river. An 
immense quantity of cinders was found in the interior of this 
enclosure. In the bed of the creek, just below the hill, are four 
w-ells, dug through the rock, and laid round at the top with hewn 
stone. Their apertures were closed with circular slabs, having 
a small hole through the centre, and apparently wrought with 
tools ; the stream, it is thought, has changed its channel since 
their excavation. 

On the north fork of Paint Creek are other works, which 
consist of two enclosures connected with each other. The area 
of the largest is one hundred and ten acres, surrounded by a 
ditch, and a wall twelve feet high, and disposed in an oblong 
form. The smaller work, on the east side, is nearly square. 



44 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



and contains sixteen acres. Within the large enclosure are 
two circular works, encompassed with embankments, one of 
which contains six sepulchral mounds, or cemeteries.* 

Appearances of works similar to those of Paint Creek were, 
at the close of the last century, visible for nearly sixty miles 
along the Scioto, to its junction with the Ohio ; opposite which, 
on the Virginia side, were extensive ruins, and among them the 
remains of chimneys.f 

In the neighborhood of Portsmouth, on the south side of the 
Ohio river, there was a square enclosure, with parallel walls 
diverging from it on either side towards the river, enclosing a 
fine interval of land ; at its south- west corner stood a large 
mound, covering one quarter of an acre, and twenty feet in 
height.J 

On the north side of the river there were remains of a more 
intricate character. They consisted chiefly of parallel walls 
running from the water, the distance of four miles, to the summit 
of a large hill, where, after a detour, they terminated near four 
mounds. Three of these mounds were six feet in height, and 
covered nearly an acre each, and the fourth had an elevation of 
twenty feet. In the vicinity were an unfinished tumulus, and 
another completed, twenty-five feet high, and containing the 
remains of the dead. At the brow of the hill was a well, still 
twenty-five feet deep, and also two others each ten feet deep. 
From the east side of this group of mounds, proceeded parallel 
walls, two miles towards the river, sweeping in a large circuit 
of the richest land. 

* Ar. Am., vol. i. p. 151. | Tr. Am. Phil. Soc.,vol. iii. p. 216. 
t Ibid. vol. i. p. 183. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



45 



NV Near Somerset, in Perry county, Ohio, was an ancient ruin, 
whose walls, enclosing an area of forty acres, were built with rude 
masses of unhewn stone, at present lying in confusion, and but 
a few feet in height.* 1 1 One gateway, between two large rocks, 
opened into the country, before which was an enormous boulder 
of rock in some degree defending the access. In the line of the 
wall stood a small stone mound, and towards the middle of the 
enclosure was another, composed of the same materials, of a 
conical shape and much larger dimensions. These works were 
placed upon elevated ground, and, in consequence of their dis- 
tance from water, are presumed to have been intended for other 
purposes than habitation. 

The state of Kentucky contains many of these ruins. There 
was one near Lexington which has been mistaken for an Indian 
structure.f Its form was an irregular oval, about fourteen 
hundred yards in circumference, surrounded by an earthen em- 
bankment, from eight to ten feet thick at the base and from five 
to ten feet high, broken by apertures or gates at irregular inter- 
vals. Near the middle of the enclosure was a small mound, 
about 'two or three feet in height, and also a number of pits or 
depressions, resembling sunken graves. The whole work, inclu- 
sive of the ramparts, w T as overgrown with a forest of trees of a 
large size, and of the growth and kind usual in the vicinity. 

On the Mississippi, a few miles below lake Pepin, upon a 
broad plain, the appearance of entrenchments has been observed, 
forming a breastwork about four feet high. Their form was 

* Arch. Amer., vol. i. p. 147. 

f Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. N. S., vol. i. pp. 310, 312. 



46 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



semicircular, the ends reaching to the water, and the whole line 
extending about a mile * 

* In the town of Jefferson, west from Milwaulkee, on the 
west branch of Rock river, are the ruins of an extensive walled 
city, with a number of mounds or tumuli in the immediate 
vicinity. The form of that part examined is oblong, and its 
area is surrounded with the dilapidated remains of a brick wall, 
one quarter of a mile in extent, and now crumbled to the earth. 
The brick appears to be like that made at the present day with 
the exception of its possessing a lighter color, and the wall is 
covered with vegetable matter, and completely overgrown with 
verdure. Its remains are now twenty-three feet wide at the 
base, and four or five high, the wall having originally been much 
higher and narrower, but being now spread out by decay ; the 
vestiges of buttresses projecting, at regular intervals, seventeen 
feet beyond its line, are still perceptible. At the north-west and 
south-west corners of the enclosure, upon the exterior, are two 
semicircular groups of mounds, their respective heights varying 
from three to twenty-five feet ; at the same corners, on the 
inner side of the enclosure, are two square elevated plains or 
terraces, fifteen feet high, one of them accessible by a stairway. 
Upon the eastern side, towards the margin of the river, two other 
terraces appear; and about the middle of the eastern wall, at the 
water's edge, is the termination of a sewer, three feet below the 
surface, and arched with stone. An elevated ridge of earth con- 
necting two of the terraces, parallel walls running north and 
south through the interior of the fort, and the remains of a cellar, 



* Carver's Travels, p. 45.— Pike's Expedition, p. 18. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



47 



complete the description of these interesting ruins so far as they 
have yet been examined.* 

In the state of Illinois, three miles above the Vermillion 
river, upon an elevated cliff on the left bank of the Illinois 
river, is Rock fort. The summit of the hill is level, contains 
about three quarters of an acre, and is covered with soil and 
young trees. Here is a regular entrenchment, corresponding in 
its course with the edge of the precipice ; and within this are 
other excavations, covered with trees. Upon this spot have 
been found broken muscle shells, fragments of antique pottery, 
and stones which have been subjected to the action of heat, 
resembling lava.f Between this place and Mount Joliet, are 
the ancient sites of several old villages; one, on the top of 
Buffalo rock, and another, in a plain, have been completely 
encompassed by a ditch and wall, the remains of which are 
still conspicuous, and the extent of their lines easily traced. 
°^In Gasconade county, Missouri, are the ruins of an an- 
cient town, regularly laid out, in streets and squares ; the 
remains of some of the houses still exist, and foundations of 
stone are found in different parts of the area. Another stone 
work is situated about sixteen miles distant from this, which 
appears to have been constructed with great regularity.! Upon 
Buffalo Creek and the Osage river, ruins of similar stone build- 
ings may be observed, evincing a superior degree of architec- 
tural skill.§ One, at Noyer Creek, has been more particularly 
described. It presents the dilapidated remnants of a building 
constructed of rough, unhewn stone, fifty-six feet long and 



* N. F. Hyer's Account. 
$ Beck's Gazetteer, p. 234. 



f Schoolcraft's Mississippi, p. 320. 

§ Ibid. p. 306. 



48 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



twenty-two broad. The walls are from two to five feet high, 
enclosing a semicircular, a square, and two oblong chambers. 
The oblong apartments were roofed with the arch of receding 
inverted steps, and the semicircular chamber contained several 
human bones. Eighty rods east from this building was another, 
of smaller dimensions and of similar construction, and having a 
circular apartment between two oblong ones, without any inter- 
communication. 

Upon a low plain, on the south side of the Missouri river, 
opposite the upper extremity of Bonhomme Island, there has 
been discovered an ancient enclosure including an area of about 
five hundred acres* It consists of two long straight walls, 
from six to fifteen feet in height and from seventy-five to one 
hundred feet in width at the base ; one running along the mar- 
gin of the river, and the other proceeding from bank to bank, 
so as to take in the ground intervening and lying in the bend 
of the stream. A circular redoubt is situated upon the opposite 
extremity of Bonhomme Island, with a wall surrounding it, 
about six feet high. The extremity of one of the long walls is 
protected by a similar work, while the other end terminates in 
a species of citadel, of a semicircular shape, strongly fortified, 
and possessing horn-works, curtains defending the gateways, 
and covered ways to the river. The walls of these ruins are 
covered with large cotton-trees of full growth. 

Similar remains have been observed in the Territory still 
further west of the State of Missouri, and also on the Platte, 
Kanzas, and Jacques rivers.f Upon the banks of the Arkansas 



* Lewis and Clark's Travels, p. 47. 



t Ibid, p. 65. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



49 



river, is a regular fortification covering an area of twenty-five 
acres ; the walls are eight feet high, with deep ditches twenty- 
five feet broad. It has two entrances, and the appearance of a 
secret passage or covert way may be seen : in the middle are 
two truncated mounds, each eighty feet high and one thousand 
feet in circumference at the base.* 

Other mural remains have been discovered within this 
state, and some of them are said to be constructed with brick ; 
but though we have every reason to anticipate such discoveries, 
and particularly in the region stretching towards Mexico, the 
authority for their existence is too uncertain for reliance, and 
needs further confirmation.! 

From this brief outline of the ancient fossa, cities, walls and 
fortifications, it will be readily perceived that those in the state 
of Ohio have been the most carefully surveyed, and have re- 
ceived the most accurate descriptions, while as to those in 
other sections, we owe our acquaintance with them for the most 
part to accidental and hasty observations, seldom conducted upon 
any fixed plan, or from any other motive than casual curiosity. 
It is highly probable that the unexplored regions of the west 
still offer a rich field for future research, and will add immeasu- 
rably to our information upon a subject so intimately connected 
with the development of the history of this continent, and of 
its ancient inhabitants. Not the least important object of such 

* Silliman's Journal, vol. iii. p. 38. 

f " When at Little Rock we were strongly urged to visit an unex- 
plored city, said to lie on the banks of Red River to the north-west of 
Alexandria, which is known in that remote country by the name of 
the Old Town. This, we were seriously assured, might be traced by 

7 " 



50 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



an investigation is the determination of the position, extent, 
and chain of continuity of these ruins, upon which circum- 
stances depends in some degree the solution of a portion of the 
history of their authors. 

embankments and ruins over an area twenty-three miles long, by four 
broad. Our informant stated that he should judge the cemetery to be 
a mile square." — Latrobe's Rambler in North America, vol. ii. p. 179. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



51 



CHAPTER IV. 

ANCIENT REMAINS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The last order of these antiquities in the United States con- 
sists of Mounds, which are square, oblong, or circular at the base, 
and conical-or flat at the summit. They are either tumuli, ter- 
raced elevations in the vicinity of the mural remains, or trun- 
cated pyramidal erections. The tumuli are always the reposito- 
ries of the dead, and it is probable most of the other mounds 
may have served, secondarily, as sepulchres ; though the prin- 
cipal object of many, contiguous to the fortifications, was un- 
questionably defensive, while the purpose of others, and particu- 
larly of the larger truncated pyramids, was religious. 

Where there exists so much resemblance in form, it is not 
always easy to distinguish the ancient tumuli from those thrown 
up by the Indians. The superior dimensions of the former 
usually present one mark of distinction, not always, however, 
satisfactory. In their contents we perceive surer indica- 
tions of their origin, especially in the traces of the incine- 
ration of the dead, a custom not usually prevailing at present 
with the Indians. Another characteristic difference, but* one 
not invariable, is exhibited in the nature of their materials — 
those of ancient workmanship appearing often to have been 
erected with alluvion dissimilar from the neighboring soil. It 
may be added also that the association of the ancient tumuli in 



52 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



groups, and their proximity to the fortified enclosures, indicate 
an identity of origin. The regular form and position of those 
groups more isolated, and the symmetrical manner in which they 
are generally arranged, prevent any confusion between them and 
the less ancient structures proceeding from the Indians, which 
usually occur singly. 

Many of the ancient tumuli consist of earth, and others of 
stone, the composition depending however upon the natural fa- 
cilities for obtaining either material. Thus of three, discovered 
upon an elevated ridge in the state of Kentucky-, two were of 
the former, and one of the latter description ; all, however, ex- 
hibiting the same internal indications in other respects.* They 
had been erected over dead bodies, or rather over the ashes of 
the dead, as beneath them were ashes, calcined bones, and char- 
red wood, enclosed in a grave formed of flat pieces of stone. 
These mounds were thirty-six feet in diameter, but only three in 
height ; and they have been considered as of recent construction, 
though they are manifestly of the same character with others 
found on the Muskingum river, which are unquestionably an- 
cient.f The latter were composed of earth, and had a basis of well 
burnt bricks, each four or five inches square, upon which were 
cinders, charcoal, and pieces of calcined human bones. sK A simi- 
lar mound of large dimensions existed at Marietta, which on 
being removed was found to contain, besides pieces of copper, 
silver plate, and oxided iron, one human body upon the surface 
of tjie earth, deposited with the face upwards, and the head 
pointing to the south-west. Blackened earth, charcoal, and a 
circular coffin of thin flat stones still dark and stained with 

* Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, p. 201. 
j Archseologia Americana, vol. i. p. 163. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 53 

smoke, demonstrated that the funeral obsequies had been celebra- 
ted by fire. This mound was six feet high, and thirty in diameter, 
and its materials were taken from the adjacent plain. ' 

Another mound of similar dimensions, at a short distance 
from Marietta, on being examined was found to contain cop- 
per ornaments, together with the remains of a single skele- 
ton, also probably burnt before burial.* 

Near the centre of the circular enclosure at Circleville 
above described, was a tumulus about ten feet high. On the 
east side a raised passage-way led to its level summit, which 
was thirty feet in diameter, and on the same side was a semicircu- 
lar pavement composed of pebbles.f This mound has been re- 
moved, and its contents were^ a great quantity of arrow or 
spear-heads; the handle of some iron instrument, as was thought, 
encircled by a ferule of silver ; a large mica mirror three feet 
long ; a plate of iron oxidized, and two skeletons twenty feet 
asunder, surrounded with ashes, charcoal, and well-burnt brick. 

At Cincinnati a mound eight feet high, sixty broad, and 
six hundred and twenty long,J on examination appeared to 

* Archseologia Americana, vol. i. p. 175. f Ibid. p. 177. 

X One of the first accounts, written in 1794, describes this mound 
as raised upon the margin of the second bank of the Ohio river, eight 
feet in height and with a base of about one hundred and twenty 
by sixty. Upon its surface were found stumps of oak trees seven 
feet in diameter. The articles which were found were near a body 
interred in a horizontal position, and with the head towards the setting 
sun. The instruments of stone were smoothly and regularly cut, and 
of great hardness. The copper was well wrought, and the carved 
bones were not human remains. — Transactions o/Amer. Phil. Soc> 
vol. iv. p. 178. 



54 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



belong to the same class.* Its oval figure and correspondence 
with the cardinal points, evince the advancement in knowledge 
of its architects, which conclusion is not disproved by the cha- 
racter of its contents. These, besides articles of jasper, crystal, 
coal, and carved bones, consisted also of beads ; lead, copper, 
and mica plates ; marine shells of the genus buccinum, cut 
into domestic utensils, and the sculptured representation of 
the head of a voracious bird ; while, as in the mounds before 
described, human bones appeared, some enclosed in coffins of 
stone, but all embedded in ashes and charcoal, the unfailing 
signs of the burning of the deceased. 

In Knox county, Tennessee, upon the Holston river, are 
several pyramidal mounds, surrounded by an earthen entrench- 
ment enclosing several acres. f At every angle of the embank- 
ment, it sweeps out into a semicircle ; and it appeals well 
calculated as a military work. One of the mounds upon being 
penetrated developed a quantity of ashes and charcoal. Near 
Newport, in the same state, is another mound thirty feet high, 
its base covering half an acre, and its superior surface level like 
those of the others. 

Nine miles south-east from Lancaster, in Fairfield county, J 
Ohio, stood a mound one hundred and fifty feet in circumference, 
and fifteen feet in height. Upon examination, there was found 
at a level corresponding with the surface of the earth, a fur- 
nace of unhewn stone eighteen feet long, six wide, and one and 
a half high, having a stone apparently shaped with some instru- 
ment closing the mouth. Upon this furnace was placed a vessel 

* Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, p. 205. 
f Silliman's Journal, vol. i. p. 428. 

X Dr. Kreider's Communication to Fairfield County Med. Soc. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 55 

of the same dimensions, two feet deep, and half an inch thick, 
made of earthenware, perfectly smooth, and well moulded ; and 
underneath was a thick la) T er of ashes and charcoal, while the 
bottom of the vessel, from its appearance, had evidently been 
subjected to the action of heat. This huge caldron contained 
twelve human skeletons, of various size and age : around the 
neck of one of the children were beads of muscle shell, a piece 
of cane, entire shells, arrows, and a curiously wrought stone. 

Near Newark, Ohio, is a conical stone tumulus, forty feet 
high, and with a base one hundred feet in diameter.* The 
tumulus described as ninety feet high, at Circleville, stood on an 
eminence which also appeared to be artificial.! It contained 
an immense number of human skeletons, of every size and age, 
all laid horizontally, with their heads towards the centre, and 
feet towards the outside of the mound. Stone axes, knives, and 
various ornaments were found deposited, generally near the head 
of every individual. 

A mound formerly stood near the middle of the town of 
Chillicothe, fifteen feet high, and sixty feet in diameter.! Hu- 
man bones occurred in various parts, on its being levelled; and 
at the surface of the earth, upon pieces of bark, lay a single 
human skeleton, covered with a mat ; on its breast was an 
oblong stone ornament perforated with two holes, by which it 
was connected with a string of bone beads, and a piece of cop- 
per in the shape of a cross. '( 

On the Grave Creek, Virginia, below Wheeling, is a large 
mound, seventy feet in height, with a level summit sixty feet in 

* Delafield's Inquiry, p. 55. f Arch. Amer., vol. i.p. 179. 
% Arch. Amer., vol. i. p. 182.— Description of the Ohio, etc. p. 36. 



56 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



diameter.* The circumference of its base is three hundred yards ; 
and there is no excavation in the vicinity whence its materials 
could have been obtained. At a short distance stand three 
smaller elevations, and several others appear scattered around 
in different directions. Some of these contained relics of cop- 
per, instruments of stone, and human bones ; and one is encom- 
passed by a ditch, and parapet five feet in height, intersected 
by a single gate w ay .f 

One of these mounds has been recently penetrated on the 
north side, about four feet above the base, by a passage pro- 
ceeding horizontally towards the centre. Two vaults were 
discovered, constructed at different dates ; one placed near the 
top, the other near the bottom : they had been built with 
pillars of wood supporting a roof of stone. The lower chamber 
contained two skeletons, — the bones much decayed, — which ap- 
peared to have been buried in an erect or sitting position. In 
the upper chamber, besides the decomposed bones of a skeleton, 
there were found ivory beads, copper wristlets, small plates of 
mica, marine shells of the genus voluta, and a flat stone marked 
with unknown characters. 

On the low grounds of the Kenhawa, in Virginia, near the 
junction of one of its branches, the Elk river, is a mound nearly 
forty feet in altitude. The circumference of its base measures 
one hundred and forty yards ; its form is that of a truncated 
cone; and upon the summit there is a level area twelve or 
thirteen feet in diameter. Near it is a group of several smaller 
mounds ; and within a few miles of this stands another, said to 

* Harris's Tour, p. 62. — Silliman's Journal, vol. vi. p. 166. 
| Amer. Phil. Trans,, vol. iii. p. 215. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



57 



be much higher. No marks of excavation are to be seen in the 
neighborhood, and it is supposed that the earth employed in its 
erection was brought from some distance.* 

On the Cahokia, nearly opposite to St. Louis, in the state 
of Illinois, within a circuit of four to seven miles, there are 
upwards of one hundred and fifty mounds. One of these, called 
The Monk mound, from having been occupied by some friars of 
the order of La Trappe, is truncated, and in the form of a paral- 
lelogram, stretching from the north to the south.f Its height 
is ninety feet, and the circumference of its base has been estima- 
ted to be from two thousand to two thousand four hundred feet.J 
Upon the southern side is a terrace, twenty feet lower than the 
summit, which formerly was approached by an inclined plane, 
projecting from its middle, about fifteen feet wide. The ar- 
rangement of some of the smaller mounds appears to have been 
made with reference to this ; and the mounds of another group, 
near by, are symmetrically placed in the form of a semicircle. 
Arrow-heads, earthenware and human bones have been discov- 
ered in the vicinity, and by excavations into the body of the 
Monk mound. At the junction of the Catahoola, Washita and 
Tensa rivers, in Louisiana, another truncated mound, with a 
similar step or terrace, may be observed, surrounded by a group 
of smaller size.§ 

In the immediate vicinity of St. Louis, on the other side of 
the Mississippi, there are also several other groups of mounds. 
One of these mounds, situated on the second bank of the river, 
is formed with three stages, or platforms, upon the side facing 

* Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. vol. vi. p. 138. 

t Beck's Gazetteer, pp. 43, 139. 

\ Brackenridge's Views, p. 173. § Ibid. p. 175. 

8 



58 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

the river ; and another with two stages. The arrangement of 
these series of mounds is symmetrical, and they are generally 
in the form of truncated pyramids. Those of them that have 
been excavated have disclosed human bones, earthenware, 
charred wood, and other miscellaneous articles.* 

Near Natchez is a number of mounds, several of which have 
been penetrated. Of these, a group about eleven miles from 
that city, is the most remarkable. One of them thirty-five feet 
high, of an oval form, and with precipitous sides, presents on 
its summit an elliptical area of four acres, encompassed by an 
embankment around the margin. Within this enclosure on the 
east side rises another mound fifteen feet high : on the north 
side are two more, on the south two, and on the west is a fifth 
thirty feet high, and with a flat summit. The large mound is sur- 
rounded by a ditch at its base, and on its sides are indentations, 
and projections resembling salient angles. In the middle of the 
area at the top of the mound, is the mouth of a subterranean 
passage leading to a spring, and in the opposite quarter towards 
the south are traces of a similar outlet. On the eastern side 
are two smaller elevations ten feet high, which appear like 
terraced bastions. Remains of excavated roads converging 
to this great work are still visible, and many weapons, imple- 
ments, vessels, fragments of pottery and human bonesf have 
been discovered. 

Upon the north side of the Etowah river, in Georgia, is a 
mound seventy-five feet high, and one thousand in circumference 
at its base. J An inclined plane for the purpose of ascent to 

* Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, vol. i. p. 155. 
t Southwest by a Yankee, vol. ii. p. 224, 
% Silliman's Journal, vol. i. p. 322. 



0 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 59 

its level summit extends from one of its sides • and two others, 
after rising thirty or forty feet, terminate in triangular platforms 
or terraces, upon the other side. At the south-east is another 
mound with its top encircled by a breastwork.* 

In Florida there are numerous mounds. Some upon the 
shores of the sea are composed of shells, and have been found to 
contain clay-ware, ashes, and charcoal. One found on Penon 
island, of a conical form, upon being opened disclosed human 
bones ; and De Soto is said to have obtained from others pearls^ 
" and the figures of children and birds made also of pearl/'f 
Numbers of earthen mounds appear throughout the whole of this 
territory, unconnected with the ancient fortifications ; and from 
their being found bearing at cardinal points from each other, 
remote from natural landmarks, and in conspicuous situations, it 
is supposed they were intended as marks of territorial division.^ 

On the eastern margin of a prairie at the back of Vin- 
cennes in Indiana, are several uncommonly large mounds, 
presenting the form of vast truncated cones. " In the immense 
masses of earth employed in their construction, and perhaps also 
in their comparatively ill-defined basal margins, these tumuli 
bear a close resemblance to the mounds of St. Louis.§ 

Mount Joliet, another mound of some celebrity, is situated 
in the northern part of the state of Illinois, and was first ob- 

* Mr. Adair describes two of these structures which existed in the 
Choctaw country. They were of great size, of an oblong form, and 
both enclosed by a broad deep ditch and a breast-work. — Adair T 
p. 378. 

t A Relation of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida, etc. pp. 
64, 65. 

X G. F. Clarke's Essay. § Schoolcraft's Mississippi, p. 157. 



60 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



s erved by the Sieur Joliet in 1673.* It is an oval structure 
corresponding in its position with the cardinal points ; the 
length of its base is about one thousand feet, and its breadth 
seven hundred and fifty. It is of a pyramidal form, level at the 
top, and one of the largest mounds in the United States. 

Near New Madrid, Missouri, a number of mounds occur, 
one of which is twelve hundred feet in circumference, and forty 
in height. It is also truncated, and surrounded at its base by 
an entrenchment and ditch.f 

Upon the Arkansas river, just below the town of Arkansas, 
formerly stood a large mound, forty feet high, situated towards 
the centre of a circle of other smaller mounds, and some elevated 
platforms, or terraces of earth.J 

Such is a brief sketch of the most remarkable of the ancient 
mural remains, mounds, and other relics of the nations which for- 
merly occupied a large portion of our country. In these monu- 
ments are we presented with the only direct testimonies where- 
from to deduce some historical knowledge of their authors ; and 
before proceeding further, it may be well to inquire what facts 
appear to be established at this stage of the investigation. 

1. Their identity of origin. — The general character of all 

* Beck's Gazetteer, p. 141. t Ibid. p. 304. 

I NuttalPs Arkansas, p. 69.— Vide also, Trans. Amer. Phil. 
Soc, vol. iii. p. 217. 

At Baton Rouge there are mounds composed entirely of shells, 
like some of those in Florida. Mr. Brackenridge says, " I have been 
informed that in the plains between the Arkansas and St. Francis, 
the mounds are numerous and some very large," and he also gives a 
list of fifteen different places, at the West, where there are extensive 
groups of these monuments. — Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc, vol. iii. p. 155. 



. AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 61 

these remains indicates an origin from the same nation, or from 
branches of the same people. Although there is some variety 
to be observed in their form and arrangement, yet certain lead- 
ing and predominant features distinguish them all ; and, from 
a careful survey, we are urged to the conclusion, that they 
proceeded from nations possessing similar customs and insti- 
tutions. 

2. Their extent and locality. — These ruins extend over a 
wide district of territory : commencing in the state of New 
York, and stretching along the western line of the Alleghanies, 
at the south they bend eastwardly through Georgia, and are 
terminated only by the ocean in the southernmost part of Flori- 
da. At the west, we find them in great numbers upon the 
margins of all the western waters, reaching far up towards the 
sources of the Mississippi, and scattered along the banks of 
the Missouri and of its branches, and thence down to the 
Gulf of Mexico and beyond the Red River towards Mexico, 
whither, although the line has not yet been accurately followed, 
they can probably be traced. Indeed, Mr. Brackenridge ob- 
serves, that "the distance from the large mound on the Red 
river to the nearest in New Spain is not so great, but that they 
might be considered as existing in the same country."* 

It will be perceived, then, that at no point do they touch the 
Atlantic ocean, except in Florida ; that at the north and west, 
so far as discoveries have been made, they find a limit, and do 
not approach the colder regions, nor reach to the shores of the 
Pacific ; while, on the other hand, at the south-west they range 
towards Mexico, and nearly in a direct and unbroken chain of 



* Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc, vol. i. p. 156. 



62 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

continuity. That Florida was not the first seat of these nations, 
whence they were diffused towards the valley of the "West, 
appears from the reflection, that among all nations the first 
extension of population has been along the shores of rivers and 
oceans. If Florida had "been their first and original position, 
they would naturally have extended their settlements along the 
Atlantic frontier ; but there we find no indications of their exist- 
ence, and it would appear to be a just inference to suppose, that 
the course of migration has been from the great western vallevs 
southwardly into Florida. At the south-west, however, we trace 
them towards Mexico ; thither, then, so far as anv indications 
exist in their locality and position, are we directed in the inves- 
tigation of their origin. 

3. Their numbers. — In the description just given of these 
ruins, those only have been pointed out which are remarkable 
for their contents, size, and peculiarity of structure, or which 
are important in developing the extent and position of the ter- 
ritory occupied by their authors. A vast multitude of others, of 
a similar character, occur throughout the district whose limits 
have been indicated, demonstrating beyond a doubt, that the 
whole of this immense region was in the possession of these 
nations. The author just quoted, whose accurate personal 
observations entitle his statements to great weight, in relation 
to the number of the earthen enclosures or fortifications, re- 
marks, " The traces of them are astonishingly numerous in the 
western country. I should not exaggerate if I were to say that 
five thousand might be found, some of them enclosing more 
than a hundred acres r' and of the mounds and tumuli, he says 
that they are much more numerous." This statement, though 
* Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. vol. i. p. 153. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



63 



intended to apply to but a portion of the country covered with 
these ruins, is no less true of the remainder ; and when reflect- 
ing how many of them must have disappeared in the cultivation 
of the soil, without attracting more than a local and temporary 
attention, and how many may have escaped observation, covered 
as they are with forests, it is difficult, perhaps, to entertain too 
exaggerated an idea of the immense population which once 
crowded this spacious territory.* 

4. Their antiquity. — The character of these structures affords 
one argument for their antiquity; for they are not entrench- 
ments thrown up hastily by migrating hordes, but on the con- 
trary the ruins of cities and temples, some, of the most massive 
and durable dimensions, and all indicating the existence of a 
population permanently established. But w T e are not to sup- 
pose that they are all of contemporaneous origin ; and for this 
as well as other reasons, we are compelled to give a superior 
antiquity to those located in the West : and as w T e trace the 
gradual diffusion of population from that quarter, it is apparent 
how long a period must have elapsed before the structures on 
the confines of this great empire were erected ; add to this the 
time intervening between their construction and their abandon- 
ment, the length of which is left entirely open to conjecture, — for 
we know not how long these nations flourished, — and the mind is 
irresistibly led back to a remote date. But even the precise epoch 
of their desertion lies beyond all direct and positive traditionary 

* Professor Rafmesque ascertained upwards of five hundred an- 
cient monuments in the state of Kentucky, and fourteen hundred out 
of it, most of which he had visited and surveyed personally. — MS. 
Letter, 1824. 



64 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



testimony, while certain physical appearances would favor the 
opinion of its antiquity. Most of these monuments are covered 
with forests ; and while many of the trees, from their vast size 
and the number of their annular layers of wood, are apparently 
of great age, the vestiges of decayed wood, and the absence 
of that uniformity of character peculiar to a recent second growth, 
demonstrate that several generations of trees have sprung up 
and disappeared since these works were deserted. 

The full force of this argument cannot be more strongly 
illustrated than by citing the lucid description given by the late 
President of the manner in which the forests are gradually re- 
stored to the soil after its tillage is abandoned. " The process," 
he remarks, " by which nature restores the forest to its original 
state, after being once cleared, is extremely slow. ^Tn our rich 
lands it is indeed soon covered again with timber ; but the char- 
acter of the growth is entirely different, and continues so 
through many generations of men. In several places on the 
Ohio, particularly upon the farm which I occupy, clearings 
were made in the first settlement, abandoned, and suffered to 
grow up. Some of them now to be seen, of nearly fifty years 
growth, have made so little progress toward attaining the ap- 
pearance of the immediately contiguous forest, as to induce any 
man of reflection to determine, that at least ten times fifty years 
would be necessary, before its complete assimilation could be 
effected. The sites of the ancient works on the Ohio, present 
precisely the same appearance as the circumjacent forest. You 
find on them all that beautiful variety of trees, which gives 
such unrivalled richness to our forests. This is particularly the 
case on the fifteen acres included within the walls of the work 
at the mouth of the Great Miami, and the relative proportions of 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 65 

the different kinds of timber are about the same/' The first growth 
on the same kind of land once cleared, and then abandoned to 
nature, on the contrary is more homogeneous — often stinted to 
one or two, or at most three kinds of timber. If the ground has 
been cultivated, yellow locust in many places will spring up, as 
thick as garden peas. If it has not been cultivated, the black and 
white w T alnut will be the prevailing growth. The rapidity with 
which these trees grow for a time, smothers the attempt of 
other kinds to vegetate and grow in their shade. The more 
thrifty individuals soon overtop the weaker of their own kind, 
which sicken and die. In this way there is only as many left 
as the earth will support to maturity." " This state of things 
will not, however, always continue." " The preference of the 
soil for its first growth, ceases with its maturity. It admits of 
no succession upon the principles of legitimacy. The long 
undisputed masters of the forest, may be thinned by the light- 
ning, the tempests, or by diseases peculiar to themselves ; and 
whenever this is the case, one of the oft-rejected of another 
family will find, between its decaying roots, shelter and appro- 
priate food, and springing into vigorous growth, will soon push 
its green foliage to the skies, through the decayed and wither- 
ing limbs of its blasted and dying adversary ; the soil itself 
yielding it a more liberal support than any scion from the for- 
mer occupants. It will easily be conceived what a length of 
time it will require for a denuded tract of land, by a process so 
slow, again to clothe itself with the amazing variety of foliage 
which is the characteristic of the forests of this region. Of 
what immense age then must be those works, so often referred 
to, covered, as has been supposed by those who have the best 
opportunity of examining them, ivith the second growth } after 

9 



66 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



the ancient forest state had been regained."* These evidences 
are therefore similar in one respect to all the other facts ad- 
duced to prove the age of these remains, for while they establish 
that the era of their erection is not modern ; while they oppose 
not a single objection to their great antiquity ; they still fail in 
pointing out with any degree of certainty the precise era of their 
construction. 

In attentively examining the localities in the vicinity of the 
mounds and mural remains, we observe various physical changes 
which have manifestly occurred since their construction — and 
which are usually the result only of the long, gradual, and contin- 
ued action of natural causes. Thus in Florida, lakes which 
were formerly approached by artificial avenues, have since be- 
come dry. At the west, lakes and rivers upon whose margins 
these ruins are perceptible have deserted their ancient beds and 
channels,f and in the state of New York the line of mural re- 
mains is bounded by the ancient shores of lakes Erie and On- 
tario. There is nothing to contradict this conclusion, as to their 

* A Discourse on the Aborigines of the Valley of the Ohio, by 
William Henry Harrison. 

f " They are for the most part in rich soils and conspicuous situa- 
tions. In the prairie regions, where I have seen the greatest number, 
they are covered with tall grass, and generally near benches which 
indicate the former course of rivers. In my farm on the beautiful 
prairie below St. Charles, the Mamelle or 1 Point Prairie,' were two 
conical mounds of considerable elevation. A hundred paces in front 
of them was a high bench marking the shore of the Marais Croche, 
an extensive marsh, and evidently the former bed of the Missouri." — 
Flint's Recollections, p. 166. 

Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. vol. iii. p. 154. Scientific Tracts, New 
Series, vol. iii. p. 157. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



67 



great antiquity, in the present state of preservation of the mounds 
and mural remains. Earthen structures are not greatly altered 
by age ; but little perceptible change is made upon them by 
the action of the elements, if they are favorably located, and it 
is certain that monuments of a similar character are among 
the most ancient which have been preserved from antiquity, and 
are more enduring than the most solid specimens of architec- 
ture. 

5. The means of subsistence of these nations. — The eviden- 
ces of the numerous population formerly inhabiting the sites of 
these ruins, would suggest an inquiry as to their means of sub- 
sistence. It is probable some traces of their agriculture still 
existed not many years since ; but the situation of the towns and 
cities would appear to be decisive of this question, for we find 
them usually upon the shores of streams and upon the richest 
soil, — as if the choicest spots for the cultivation of the earth 
had been selected. 

6. Their institutions. — Civilized nations, living in populous 
communities, cannot subsist without some controlling form of 
government — for law affords one of the elementary distinctions 
between savage and civilized life, and its protective influence 
is necessary and essential to the encouragement of the arts. 
The existence also of such vast public works would fortify this 
conclusion, and indicate some power capable of controlling and 
combining the labor of large numbers of men. 

7. The objects of these structures. — That the tumuli, and 
many, if not all of the truncated mounds have served as sepul- 
chres, may be inferred from the contents of the great number of 
them already examined ; but we are not to conclude that this 
was the sole purpose of these enormous artificial elevations. 



68 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

The level areas upon their summits, the careful manner in 
which some have been guarded by entrenchments, their relative 
situation to the fortified enclosures, and the regularity with 
which several of the groups have been arranged, suggest some 
other object. Numbers of them in the immediate vicinity of the 
fortifications are so disposed, as to demonstrate that they assisted 
in the defence of those positions. Others, and this remark ap- 
plies to the majority of the important ones, from their astro- 
nomical position and their correspondence with the cardinal 
points, as well as from their analogy to the monuments of 
other nations, it is reasonable to presume were sacred edifices, 
and bore the altars of the gods. 

The enclosures were likewise of two classes ; some, of a 
regular geometrical form and small dimensions, as the one at 
Circleville, having been intended for religious purposes ; and 
others, of a more irregular shape, and sometimes containing im- 
mense areas, having been occupied as cities and fortresses. It 
may be remarked, that, from a peculiarity in the disposition of 
some of the earthen embankments around the sites of cities, and 
from the existence of long and continued lines of others along 
the margins of rivers, it would appear as if they had also served 
for the protection of the enclosed areas, and the circumjacent 
plains from the disastrous effects of inundations. 

Sometimes we find embankments extended to great dis- 
tances, which, judging from their width, situation, and other 
circumstances, may very well have served as roads.* The 

* The Indians had wide and extensive paths — war or hunting 
paths — which stretched great distances, and having been opened 
from time immemorial, it has been supposed some of them denote 
the course of the roads of the ancient inhabitants. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



69 



long oval enclosures, often encircling a mound at one end, 
concerning which much conjecture has been exercised, and 
which resemble the Roman cursus, were probably devoted to a 
similar purpose, and were traversed on festival days by those 
religious processions which were so frequent in the sacred cere- 
monies of the Mexicans. 

Where, it may be asked, are the remains of the dwellings 
of these nations 1 The same question arises upon viewing the 
ruins of the Mexican temples and pyramids now standing in 
solitude. Its solution rests in the fact, that, like all primitive 
people, while the houses of their princes and their gods were 
erected in the most durable manner, with the greatest labor, of 
the most massive materials, and adorned with the most exquisite 
and noble architectural embellishments, the tenements of the 
poor were of more humble dimensions, materials and structure. 
It is probable the latter were wooden and clay huts, or, at the 
best, like the dwellings of the Egyptians, composed of crude 
brick.* Thus, as might have been anticipated, their religious 
monuments still remain, while of the dwellings that surrounded 
them hardly a trace can be distinguished. 

8. The fortifications. — The best military judges have ob- 
served the skill with which the sites of many of the fortifications 
have been selected, and the artful combination of natural advan- 
tages with artificial means of defence exhibited in their con- 

* "Wilkinson, vol. ii. p. 96. 

"What," sa3 T s Denon in his Travels into Egypt, "has become of 
the residences or palaces of the kings ? Were they built of unbaked 
and therefore perishable earth — or did the great men as well as the 
priests, inhabit the temples, and the people only huts ?" — Denon's 
Travels, vol. iii. p. 58. 



70 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



struction.* The care taken in their erection must have been 
necessary for protection against a powerful external enemy, or 
from internal wars. The latter probably was partially the case, 
as, extrinsic of other reasons, it is hardly likely that at so early 
a period, and in a state of serai-civilized society, this great peo- 
ple were united under one sovereign, or were free from internal 
commotions and revolutions. 

Upon the whole, we may with justice say of these nations, 
from a review of their relics and monuments thus far, 

L That they were all of the same origin, branches of 

* Bishop Madison (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. vol. vi. p. 132,) 
has clearly shown that many of these enclosures never could 
have been intended as fortresses, and with this conclusion the 
following opinion of a competent judge coincides. — " Great as 
some of the latter are. and laborious as was their construction, 
particularly those of Circleville and Newark, I am persuaded they 
were never intended for military defences. On the contrary, those 
upon the Ohio river were evidently designed for that purpose. 
The three that I have examined, those of Marietta, Cincinnati, 
and the mouth of the Great Miami, particularly the latter, have a 
military character stamped upon them which cannot be mistaken." 
The engineers ;; who directed the execution of the Miami work appear 
to have known the importance of flank defences, and if their bastions 
are not as perfect, as to form, as those which are in use in modern 
engineering, their position, as well as that of the long lines of curtains, 
are precisely as they should be." — Harrison's Discourse. 

Carver, who was one of the first to notice these works, makes a 
similar remark in relation to the entrenchments he discovered near 
Lake Pepin. u Though much defaced by time," he observes, " every 
angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular, and fashioned 
with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban himself."— Car- 
ver's Travels, p. 45. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



71 



the same race, and possessed of similar customs and insti- 
tutions. 

2. That they were populous, and occupied a great extent 
of territory. 

3. That they had arrived at a considerable degree of civ- 
ilization, were associated in large communities, and lived in 
extensive cities. 

4. That they possessed the use of many of the metals, such 
as lead, copper, gold and silver, and probably the art of work- 
ing in them. 

5. That they sculptured in stone, and sometimes used that 
material in the construction of their edifices. 

6. That they had the knowledge of the arch of receding 
steps; of the art of pottery, — producing utensils and urns formed 
with taste, and constructed upon the principles of chemical 
composition ; and of the art of brick-making. 

7. That they worked the salt springs, and manufactured 
that substance. 

8. That they were an agricultural people, living under the 
influence and protection of regular forms of government. 

9. That they possessed a decided system of religion, and a 
mythology connected with astronomy, which, with its sister 
science geometry, was in the hands of the priesthood. 

10. That they were skilled in the art of fortification. 

11. That the epoch of their original settlement, in the 
United States, is of great antiquity ; and, 

Lastly, That the only indications of their origin, to be gath- 
ered from the locality of their ruined monuments, point towards 
Mexico. 



72 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, 



CHAPTER V. 

ANTIQUITIES IN MEXICO AND THE ADJACENT STATES. 

No portion of the globe offers more decisive evidence, of 
having been occupied for many ages by civilized nations, than 
the southern regions of North America. v ' At the time of the 
discovery, the ancient remains in the United States were de- 
serted, and the people, by whom they had been erected, were 
apparently extinct ; so that the question of their origin was a 
subject of inquiry to the antiquary, rather than to the his- 
torian. In the vast territory at the south, however, another 
spectacle was presented : there the Spanish invaders found pop- 
ulous nations, — regularly organized states — aristocratical, mo- 
narchical and republican forms of government, — established 
systems of law and religion — immense cities, rivalling in the 
style, character and magnificence of their edifices and temples, 
those of the old world ; and roads, aqueducts and other public 
works, seldom excelled in massiveness, durability, and grandeur. 
The inhabitants were clothed, the soil was tilled, many of the 
arts had been carried to a high degree of advancement, and 
their knowledge in some of the sciences equalled, if not sur- 
passed that of their conquerors. Guatemala was occupied by 
many distinct tribes, each enjoying its own peculiar govern- 
ment, and institutions ; and the same remark applies to Yucatan, 
and other neighboring countries. That extensive tract of land 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



73 



known as Anahuac, a name which though originally limited 
to the vale of Mexico was subsequently applied to most of the re- 
gion formerly denominated New Spain, was divided into several 
kingdoms and republics, of which the kingdom of Mexico was 
the most powerful and extensive.* Though'the commencement 
of this empire dates in the year 1325, when the city of Mexico 
was founded, yet this warlike and enterprising people, at the 
conquest, had brought under their sway many of the surround- 
ing nations, and their dominions reached from the 14th to the 
21st degree of north latitude, and from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific Ocean. 

With these facts clearly presented to us in history, — with 
these evidences of the existence of numerous states, advanced 
in civilization, and in the arts, it may appear singular, that in 
so short a period as three hundred years, it has become the 
part of the antiquary, to pore over the ruins of their monu- 
ments; as if to gather the history of an extinct people. But 
the civilization found existent there was of a peculiar character ; 
the great mass of the people were uncultivated ; society was 
kept in a state of order, not by the intelligence of the people, but 
by their veneration for their rulers ; the public records, the fes- 
tivals, the arts and sciences, and even agriculture, were all com- 
mitted to the charge and direction of the priesthood ; and when 
their governments fell before the assaults of their invaders, and 
their religion yielded to Catholic zeal, their institutions and 
civilization perished in a common grave. These causes alone, 
however, are not sufficient to account for the absolute ruin that 
befell these nations. The Spaniards not only waged a war of 



* Clavigero, vol. i. pp. 1, 123. 
10 



74 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



extermination against the natives themselves, but, from various 
motives, sought to obliterate every vestige of their former pow- 
er, and opulence. They spared neither monuments nor records, 
and strove to destroy every object, that might preserve to a 
despised race, the memory of what they had been ; or that 
could tend to make them cling the more tenaciously to their old 
institutions and customs. Fortunately, the vast extent and 
dimensions, and the solid and massive character, of many of 
these monuments, defied all attempts to destroy them, and tri- 
umphing alike over time and violence, they still serve to shed 
some light upon the history of their authors.* 

Fresh from the consideration of themajestic pyramidal mounds 
of the United States, the first and most natural objects of attention 
are the pyramids of Spanish America, the most ancient and the 
most expressive of all its ruins. 

Pyramids. The finest temple of the city of Mexico was one 
of the victims of Spanish bigotry, and for a description of this 
great " Teocalli,"f we are compelled to resort to the narratives 
of the conquerors. 

Its location was in the central square of the city, and it was 
dedicated to Tezcatlipoca, the first of the gods after Teote the 
Supreme Being, and to Huitzilopochtli or Mexitli, "the God of 
War."J It was built after the model of those ancient pyramids 

* Some of the idols in the city of Mexico, which they were unable 
to break, were deliberately buried in the earth ; and it is a curious 
instance of the tenacity with which the natives have adhered to their 
old superstitions, that when one of these idols was recently disinterred, 
the Indians secretly, in the night time, crowned it with garlands of 
flowers. t " House of God." 

% Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 83. De Solis, vol. i. p. 398. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 75 

supposed to have been founded by the Toltecs, and had been 
erected but a short period before the landing of Cortez. The 
main building was surrounded by a wall of hewn stone, upon 
which were sculptured knots of serpents, intertwined together. 
The four sides of this wall faced the cardinal points respectively, 
and the residences of the priests were immediately adjacent to 
it, within. In the middle of this square stood the Teocalli, 
constructed of clay, and covered with enormous masses of hewn 
porous amygdaloid.* This edifice was a truncated pyramid 
built with five stories ; its sides faced the cardinal points ; the 
line of its base was three hundred and eighteen feet long, and 
its perpendicular elevation one hundred and twenty-one feet.f 
Flights of stairs led to its superior platform, where were placed 
the sacrificial stone, and chapels containing the idols of the 
gods. Here also were the colossal statues of the sun and 
moon, formed of stone, and covered with plates of gold.t 
Eight principal temples, of similar character, are said to have 
existed within the city, and the number of those of inferior 
dimensions amounted to two thousand. This picture might 
seem to be overdrawn, were there not sufficient vestiges re- 
maining, in the ruins of other Teocallis, to attest the truth of 
its leading features, and to confirm its accuracy by extrinsic 
evidence.^ 

* Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. pp. 15, 16. 

f Fifty-four metres high according to Humboldt. This altitude 
included that of the edifices upon its summit. — Humboldt's Researches, 
vol. i. p. 84. 

% Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 86. De Solis, vol. ii. p. 177. 
§ Waldeck says, "The descriptions of the Mexican Teocalli 
are very contradictory. Some terra cottas represent them in minia- 



76 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



The most remarkable objects still existing, within the limits 
of the city of Tezcuco, in Mexico, are the remains of the chief 
Teocalli, some of the stones of which have been transferred into 
the pavements, and into the walls of dwellings, betraying their 
original destination and use, by the figures of animals, hiero- 
glyphical symbols, and other ornaments, sculptured upon them. 
The base of this pyramid extended over an area four hundred 
feet square, and the sides rose in terraces, some of which are 
still visible, covered with a hard and durable cement.* Though 
other pyramidal buildings in its neighborhood are constructed 
of brick, this appears to have been formed of enormous masses 
of basalt, regularly cut, and beautifully polished. 

To the east of the holy city of Cholula, still stand the ruins 

ture, and on a great number of them I have always counted eleven 
steps or platforms. There is great resemblance between these 
terra cottas and the great pyramid of Itzalan." This remark, so far 
as it refers to the minor details of these structures, is accurate, but as 
to their leading and general form and style, there is certainly a great 
coincidence in all the accounts. Torquemada estimated the number 
of temples in the Mexican Empire at forty thousand, and Clavigero 
says the number was far greater. " The architecture of the great 
temples," he adds, " was for the most part the same with that of the 
great temple of Mexico ; but there were many likewise of a different 
structure — many consisted of a single body in the form of a pyramid, 
with a staircase," etc. — Clavigero, vol. i. p. 269. Gomara says, " they 
had almost all the same form, so that what we shall say of the prin- 
cipal temple, will suffice to explain all the others." See also De Solis, 
vol. ii. pp. 177, 214, 222. Some authors represent the base of the 
Mexican temple to have been of greater length than breadth, like 
those of Teotihuacan. 

* Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 331. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



77 



of the celebrated pyramid, estimated to have been the largest in 
all Mexico, and sacred to Quetzalcoatl, the " God of the Air." 
The base covered an area double that of the Egyptian pyramid 
of Cheops, being one thousand four hundred and twenty-three 
feet in length ; and its height was one hundred and seventy- 
seven feet, ten feet higher than the pyramid of Mycerinus. It 
was constructed of alternate layers of clay and unburnt brick, 
was divided into four separate stories or stages, and ranged 
exactly in the direction of the cardinal points. The passage to 
the summit of this truncated pyramid appears to have been 
made originally by a flight of steps, one hundred and twenty in 
number. An ancient tradition maintained that this pyramid 
was hollow; which has since been verified, and a vault has been 
discovered, built of stone, supported by beams of cypress wood, 
and containing two skeletons, together with two basaltic idols, 
and several curious vases.* An arrangement of the bricks has 
also been observed in its internal structure, tending to lessen 
the pressure from above, by such a disposition as to make 
the upper course overlap the under, in the form of inverted 
steps — a method often found in use in several Egyptian and 
other ancient edifices. In the same manner as the pyramids of 
Teotihuacan, the large pyramid was surrounded by many smaller 
ones, the ruins of which still faintly appear in the adjacent 
plain.f 

* Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 91. Modern Traveller, Mexi- 
co, vol. i. p. 252. Humboldt's Political Essay on the Kingdom of New 
Spain, vol. ii. p. 120, English translation. 

f Latrobe, p. 205. 

Cortez, in a letter to the Emperor Charles V., dated October 30, 
1520, says he counted four hundred of these temples at Cholula. 



78 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



• Near Tacuba, a populous city at the conquest, are the ruins 
of an ancient pyramid, constructed with layers of unburnt brick 
in regular courses.* In the vicinity of Huexotla near Tezcuco 
are also several pyramids built with layers of unburnt brick, 
and clay, one of which shows appearances of having been 
hollow,! which circumstance was discovered by part of it 
having fallen in. 

Xochicalco, or " the House of Flowers," is situated upon 
the elevated plain of Cuernavaca, at a height of nearly six 
thousand feet above the level of the sea.J It appears to be 
a hill formed into an artificial shape by human labor, and 
is nearly three miles in circuit. Its base is encircled by a moat 
or ditch, and the rocky mass is cut into the shape of a truncated 
pyramid, with its sides corresponding with the cardinal points, 
and divided into four terraces. The intermediate slopes are 
covered with platforms, bastions, pyramidical and rectangular 
elevations and stages, one above the other, all faced with large 
porphyry stones admirably cut, but joined together without 
cement : the perpendicular height is estimated to be from three 
hundred to three hundred and eighty feet. 

Upon the north part of the upper area is a truncated pyra- 
mid " constructed of large regularly hewn and symmetrically 
laid masses of hard and richly sculptured rock." Its base is 
in the line of the parallels and meridians, and is about fifty feet 
in length. It formerly consisted, as is stated, of seven stories, 
portions of two only now remaining. The construction of the 

* Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, p. 99. 

f Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 335. 

| Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, pp. 185, 190. Humboldt's Poli- 
tical Essay, vol. ii. p. 45. Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 339. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



79 



stories is singularly like the Egyptian style of architecture, 
the lower parts inclining inwards at an angle of 15°, for a 
short distance, and then being surmounted with perpendicular 
courses projecting over the inferior portion. Upon the stones 
of this pyramid are many figures sculptured in relief, some 
representing hieroglyphic signs, and others human figures 
seated cross legged in the Asiatic manner, and crocodiles spout- 
ing water.* 

It is probable that the interior of this monument contains 
many apartments, as it is ascertained that subterranean cham- 
bers and galleries enter deeply into the side of the hill. Paved 
roads or causeways run from different points of the compass to 
the base of " the House of Flowers," indicating, whatever was 
its purpose, that it was the resort anciently of great numbers 
of peoplcf 

In the northern part of the former Intend ancy of Vera Cruz, 
near the village of Papantla, are the remains of another pyramid, 
constructed of enormous blocks of hewn stone, regularly laid 
in cement. Each side of its quadrangular base is eighty feet in 
length, and its altitude is sixty feet. It is a truncated pyramid, 

* These stones are parallelopipeds, and the reliefs are sculptured 
continuously over several stones, without regard to the joints, whence 
it has reasonably been inferred that the sculpture was executed after 
the erection of the structure. — Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 112. 

t There has arisen much discussion whether this work is wholly 
artificial. The recent observation of a modern traveller, without en- 
tering further into the argument, seems to decide the point, as " its 
position and configuration show it to be one of the group of adjacent 
hills." — Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, p. 185. Xochitl signifies a 
flower. — Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 160. 



80 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



and is divided into seven terraces : three staircases lead to the 
top, which are decorated with small niches supposed to have 
had an astronomical use or signification.* 

To the north-east of the Lake of Tezcuco, eight leagues 
from the city of Mexico, are the two pyramids of Teotihuacan, 
traditionally sacred to the sun and moon.f The larger pyra- 
mid, dedicated to the worship of the sun, is one hundred and 
eighty feet in height, and its base is six hundred and eighty-two 
feet in length ; and the pyramid of the moon is about one hun- 
dred and forty-five feet high. Both are divided into four stages, 
subdivided into smaller steps, and stairs of hewn stone rose to 
the superior platforms. They are composed of clay commingled 
with small stones, and are faced with amygdaloid, which has 
been coated with a red or salmon-colored cement formed of 
small pebbles and lime. 

Upon the area at the top of the pyramid of the moon, are 
the ruins of a stone edifice, forty-seven feet long, and fourteen 
wide, with an entrance at the south. J This pyramid has an 
entrance on the southern face, at two-thirds of the elevation, 
by a passage inclining downwards, and opening into a gallery, 
at the end of which are two wells now closed, except for about 
the distance of fifteen feet. The wells seem to be in the centre 
of the edifice.§ Upon the summit of the pyramid of the sun 

* Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 87. Humboldt's Political 
Essay, vol. ii. p. 172. 

f Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 85. Humboldt's Political 
Essay, vol. ii. p. 42. Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. pp. 330, 338. 

I Latrobe's Rambler in Mexico, p. 160. 

§ Latrobe, p. 161. The discovery of this entrance, were it an 



* 

AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



81 



are the remains of broken earthenware, said to resemble 
closely the Chinese patterns, pieces of obsidian, and the muti- 
lated bodies of idols.* Indeed obsidian knives, arrows, and 
terra cotta heads, abound in this vicinity. The heads have a 
physiognomical appearance somewhat unlike that of the present 
Indians, being remarkable lor the height and formation of the 
forehead, and for a curious head-dress. They are composed of 
clay well tempered, and slightly baked. Around these pyra- 
mids, as at Cholula, are many smaller ones, several hundreds 
in number, arranged in parallel lines or streets running in the 
direction of the cardinal points,f and facing the sides of the 
pyramids of the sun and moon. These are generally about 
thirty feet high, and by tradition were said to have been sepul- 
chres for the chiefs of tribes, and to have been dedicated to the 
stars. A broad road leads from the southern side of the house 
of the moon, passes directly before the western face of the house 
of the sun,J and then bears away over the plains, towards the 
mountains. 

Besides the remains of the pyramids just described, many 

ancient one, would indicate that some reliance is to be placed 
upon the ancient traditions ; for, according to one of these mentioned 
by the early travellers, the interior of these pyramids is hollow ; but 
it is possible that the passage entered by Mr. Latrobe is the work of 
Siguenza, who, according to Boturini, endeavored to pierce these 
edifices by a gallery. — See HumbokWs Political Essay, vol. ii, p. 42. 
* Latrobe, p. 161. 

t " The faces of these edifices are to within 52' exactly placed 
from north to south, and from east to west." — Humboldt's Political 
Essay, vol. ii. p. 42. 

X Tonatiuh Ytzaqual — House of the Sun ; and Mitzli Ytzaqual — 
House of the Moon. 

11 



82 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, 



others are to be observed among the ruins of the ancient cities 
in Mexico, Central America, and Yucatan.* At the conquest 
there was no place of any importance, but what boasted of 
many of these stupendous edifices ; and the narratives of the 
conquerors are filled with expressions of astonishment at their 
vastness and grandeur, and the magnificence and splendor of 
their decorations. Most of these, and in particular such as were 
of inferior size, were despoiled and overthrown by the Span- 
iards ; while those more ancient structures which served as their 
models, — the pyramidsof Cholula and of Teotihuacan, — proba- 
bly from their enormous dimensions, escaped the general ruin. 
An idea of the fearful system of indiscriminate destruction pur- 
sued by the invaders may be gathered from the letter of Cortez 
to Charles V., in which, speaking of the plan adopted for the 
subjugation of the city of Mexico, he says: " I formed the de- 
sign of demolishing on all sides, all the houses, in proportion as 
we became masters of the streets, so that we should not advance 
a foot, without having destroyed and cleared down whatever was 
behind us." Thus continually, in the examination of these 
ancient monuments, are we called to lament that barbarian 

* Mr. Lyon describes some near Panuco, which were from thirty 
to forty feet high. — Lyon's Tour, p. 55. Many ruins of sepulchral 
mounds are to be seen in Yucatan. — Humboldt's Political Essay , vol. 
ii. p. 162. At the south side of Merida are the ruins of a Teocalli 
upon which a fort has been erected. Many of the houses of Merida 
have been constructed with fragments of the pyramids. In the base 
of one of these monuments a tomb has been opened and found to 
contain the bones of the tapir and of some other mammiferous pachy- 
dermata : upon the remains of another, the Convent of St. Francisco 
has been built.— Waldeck, pp. 18, 23, 55. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



83 



fury, which in the heat of conquest was restrained from no ex- 
cess ; and even to share and sympathize in the feelings of the 
poor vanquished Indians, as they saw the objects of their deep- 
est reverence levelled with the dust. 

Ancient cities and other ruins. From the causes just alluded 
to, as well as from the gradual depopulation, and finally, the 
abandonment of many important cities whose sites are now only 
conjecturally known, but a faint conception can be obtained at 
the present period of their former size and numbers. The old 
writers, many of whom were eye-witnesses, whose accounts 
were given after a long residence in this country, give us a high 
idea of its ancient population. Clavigero has collected these 
testimonies with exceedingly great industry, and has succeeded 
in establishing that this portion of the continent was occupied 
by populous nations, whose numbers were so great that in the 
vicinity of their towns, according to Cortez, ee not a foot of the 
soil was left uncultivated," and whose cities were not only nu- 
merous, but contained, some of them, from thirty to sixty thou- 
sand houses. 

Tezcuco. The ruins of this city, which with its suburbs was 
even larger than Mexico, and according to Torquemada con- 
tained one hundred and forty thousand houses, still betoken an 
ancient place of great importance and magnificence. Without 
the walls, tumuli, the sepulchres of the former inhabitants, may 
yet be observed, and also the remains of a fine aqueduct in a suffi- 
cient state of preservation for present use. Within the city limits^ 
excavations have developed the foundations of large edifices, and 
every surrounding object points it out to the traveller, as the for- 
mer residence of a numerous, and cultivated population.* In its 



* Latrobe, p. 141. Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 331. 



84 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

vicinity there is a conical hill, rich in antiquities, covered to 
the very summit with the massive ruins of splendid buildings, 
and perforated with artificial excavations. The sides of this 
elevation are terraced in some places with solid masonry -work, 
in other parts the terraces are cut into the rock, and the exterior 
of the whole has been covered with cement, or stucco-work. 
The walls of one large building are yet partly standing, and a 
reservoir is perceived which supplied it with water. But the 
most singular object connected with this mountain of ruins, 
is a specimen of art, w T hich without any sufficient reason has 
been denominated traditionally " Montezuma's Bath."* This 
piece of workmanship is excavated from the side of a cliff, and 
projects beyond it " like a martin's nest." It is a beautiful basin 
about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well five feet in 
diameter and four deep in the centre, surrounded by a parapet two 
feet and a half high, with a throne or chair placed near it, such 
as is represented in ancient pictures, to have been used by the 
kings. Steps descend into the bath, and the whole is cut out 
of the living porphyry rock with mathematical precision, and 
polished in the most beautiful manner.f Commanding a pic- 
turesque prospect of the fine valley of Mexico, its lakes and 
city, a more enchanting spot for the luxury of the bath cannot 
well be imagined. But it is more than doubtful whether such 
was its object, and it has been suggested with much probability 
that it served for an astronomical purpose.J 

* Latrobe, p. 141. 

f Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 334. 

% A recent traveller varies in his account rather widely from this 
description, particularly with regard to its dimensions, and he states 
very positively that it could not have been a bath, or rather that it is 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 85 

Huexotla. Two miles from Tezcuco, the village of Huexotla, 
situated on the site of the ancient city of that name, which was 
considered as one of the suburbs of Tezcuco, exhibits signs of 
ancient civilization, in the foundations of large edifices, in mas- 
sive aqueducts, one of which, covered with rose-colored cement, 
still exists in a perfect state, and in an extensive wall of great 
height and thickness.* A covered way flanked by parallel 
walls proceeds from the ancient city, to the bed of a stream 
now dry, over which there is a remarkable bridge, with a 
pointed archf forty feet high, and supported on one side by a 
pyramidal mass of masonry.J 

Mitlan. In the district of Zapoteca, ten leagues from Oaxa- 
ca, occur the ruins of Mitlan, consisting originally of five edi- 
fices symmetrically arranged. The approach is made by a 
gateway, which opens upon a court one hundred and fifty feet 
square surrounded by four oblong buildings, in one of which 
the remains of two columns are still visible. The fifth and 
largest edifice, which has best withstood the ravages of time, 
is placed upon a terrace or elevated platform rising above the 
court : it is one hundred and thirty feet in length, and con- 
tains a spacious hall, whose roof of savine wood is supported 
by six monolithic porphyry columns, nineteen feet high, des- 
titute of capitals, and slightly contracted at the summit. The 

too small for any other use, than a foot bath. — Latrobe's Rambler in 
Mexico, p. 141. 

* Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. i. p. 335. 

t Latrobe, p. 139. 

% The Mexicans constructed bridges of stone, and Clavigero 
mentions the remains of " large and strong pilasters" which supported 
the bridge over the river Tula. — Clavigero, vol. ii. p. 371. 



86 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



architecture is all of a solid character, the doorway of this 
hall being covered by a single stone twelve feet long. From 
an inner court of this building, a broad flight of steps leads 
to two subterranean apartments, arranged in the form of a 
cross, and supported by columns. Each of these excavated 
galleries, which intersect each other at right angles, is eighty- 
two feet long and twenty-six broad, and they are decorated with 
Greek and arabesque ornaments. The exterior walls of the 
upper apartments are similarly embellished, while their interior 
surface is covered with paintings, representing weapons, tro- 
phies, and sacrifices. The arabesques are formed in a species of 
mosaic work made with small square porphyry stones imbed- 
ded in clay, and the Greek ornaments are supposed by Humboldt, 
to have a striking analogy to those of the Etruscan Vases.* 

Palenque. In Chiapa, near the village of San Domingo 
Palenque, are the ruins of a city, which it is said can be traced 
over an area six or seven leagues in circumference.! The part 
of these remains which exists in the most perfect state, has 
received the name of " Casas de Piedras," or the Stone^Houses.J 
These edifices are fourteen in number, and are erected upon an 

* Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 155. Researches, vol. ii. 
p. 152. 

f Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City, discovered near 
Palenque, by Captain Don Antonio Del Rio, p. 4. 

Del Rio and Dupaix have given Palenque a circuit of seven leagues, 
while its remains, according to Waldeck, occupy at the most a surface 
of but one league in extent. " If its extent," says Waldeck, " had 
been more considerable, I should have discovered it in a sojourn of 
twelve years." — Waldeck, p. 68. Juarros describes the remains of 
the city as occupying a site six leagues in circumference. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



87 



elevated ridge of land rising from the river Micol, and its branch 
the Otolum. A rectangular area, three hundred yards by four hun- 
dred and fifty, presents a plain surface at the foot of one of the 
larger mountains of the neighboring group. Around this square 
the buildings are disposed, five on the north side, four on the 
south, one on the south-west, and three on the east, — while in 
all directions, the fragments of fallen edifices and monumental 
stones are to be seen extending several leagues along the base 
of the mountain. The largest structure is situated in the mid- 
dle of the square, upon a mound sixty feet in height. Beneath 
it runs an aqueduct of stone, constructed with the greatest 
solidity.* The architecture of this edifice is on a scale of great 
magnitude. The ascent to the summit of the mound and the 
entrance of the building were upon the east side. The four 
sides had corridors or porticoes, the roofs of which were 
supported by plain rectangular pillars, without bases, and 
crowned by square blocks of stone,f above which were long 
blocks of stone stretching from column to column ; these were 
covered on their outer surface with designs in stucco work. 
From each of these porticoes there was an entrance to cham- 
bers, whose walls were ornamented with medallions or com- 
partments in stucco, alternating with niched windows. Some 
of the medallions appear to have contained a series of busts 
and heads various in their expression and form ; in those of 
the western chamber, the device being a species of grotesque 
mask, with a crown and long beard, under which are two 
crosses one within the other. The arrangement of the other 
apartments seems to have been somewhat irregular. Among 



* Del Rio, p. 4. 



t Ibid. p. 9. 



88 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

them are two rooms, denominated oratories, adorned with 
designs in stucco, and containing statues ornamented with 
strings of jewels. In other chambers we find various devices 
and sculptures of a curious character, and of admirable execu- 
tion. In the subterranean vaults constructed beneath, which 
are destitute of architectural or plastic ornaments, there are 
horizontal slabs of stone, seven feet by four, placed upon four 
square stands of masonry rising about half a yard above the 
floor. Within an open court in the middle of the whole pile 
of buildings, stands a pyramidal tower of four stories, and fifty 
feet in height, within which is another tower, with windows 
facing- those of the exterior one, and with a flight of stairs lead- 
ing to the summit. 

The remaining thirteen edifices appear to have been con- 
structed in a corresponding style. The one to the south-west 
is situated upon an eminence forty yards high, and its stucco 
ornaments are remarkable for the representations of female 
figures, delineated as headless, and carrying children in their 
arms. The four southern buildings are erected likewise 
upon elevations, and three of them contain oratories. The 
pavements or floors of these oratories upon excavation, were 
found to contain, first, an earthen vessel, and second, a 
circular stone, beneath which were two small pyramids 
with the figure of a heart in dark crystallized stone, a lance 
head, and two covered earthen jars holding some substance 
of a vermilion color.* The designs in stucco, the has reliefs 
and sculpture, observed so frequently in these ruins, represent 

* Vases or urns containing bones, together with burnt bricks and 
mortar, were also found. — Del Rio, p. 20. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



89 



a great variety of figures, most of them appareled, and deco- 
rated with pearl necklaces, caps and helmets adorned with 
flowers, and a multitude of other ornaments. A peculiarity at- 
tends all the human representations in the great size of the nose, 
a remarkable protrusion of the under lip, and the absence of a 
beard. Other relievos exhibit human sacrifices,* hieroglyphi- 
cal symbols, and men dancing with palm-leaves in their hands. 
One figure, presumed to be a deity, is sitting in Hindoo style, 
upon a throne ornamented on each side with the enormous 
head and claws of an animal, and another seated cross-legged 
upon a two-headed monster, is receiving an offering from a man 
in a kneeling attitude ; and it is observed of all these representa- 
tions that every appearance of martial instruments seems to be 
wanting. It may be added that some of the windows of these 
buildings are in the form of the Greek cross,f and that on the 
wall of one of the apartments is a tablet of sculptured stone, ex- 
hibiting the figure of a large and richly ornamented cross 
placed upon an altar or pedestal.^ A priest stands on one 
side in the attitude of adjuration, and on the other side appears 
another priest presenting some offering, — it has been supposed, 
a young child. Upon the top of the cross is seated a sacred bird, 
which has two strings of beads around its neck, from which is 
suspended something in the shape of a hand, probably intended 
to denote the manitas. This curious flower was the production 
of the tree called by the Mexicans, macphalxochitl, or " flower 
of the hand."§ It resembled the tulip, but the pistil was in the 
form of a bird's foot, with six fingers terminated with as many 
nails.|| 

* Del Rio, p. 11. | Del Rio, pp. 9, 10. + Del Rio, Plates. 
§ The Cheirostemon platanoides. || Clavigero, vol. i. p. 19. 

12 



90 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



Patinamit. — The once strong and opulent city of Patinamit, 
in Guatemala, was situated upon an elevated plain of great ex- 
tent. Upon one side of a spacious square, within its limits, were 
the remains of an edifice one hundred paces in length, constructed 
of hewn stone ; opposite to which stood the ruins of a magnifi- 
cent palace. A fosse nine feet deep with a wall of mason-work, 
now three feet high, bisects the city from north to south, and 
is said formerly to have separated the residences of the higher 
and lower orders. The streets were broad and straight, intersect- 
ing each other at right angles. A deep natural trench sur- 
rounds the whole city, the sole entrance having been made 
over a narrow causeway, through a gateway formed of the 
chaya stone.* 

Zacatecas. — Several miles to the north of Villa Nueva in the 
province of Zacatecas, and about fourteen leagues to the south- 
ward of the city of Zacatecas, occur extensive ruins, among which 
are buildings still standing, nearly entire, called "Los Edificios."f 
They are situated upon the south, east, and west sides of a 
mountain or steep and abrupt rock, which has been cut with 
great labor into artificial terraces. This ancient city was approach- 
ed from the south-west by a causeway ninety-three feet broad, 
which commences at an enclosure containing about six acres 
and surrounded by a broad wall, of which the foundations are 
still visible running first to the south and afterwards to the 
east. Off the south-western angle of this enclosure, stands a high 
mass of stones, which also flanks the entrance to the causeway. 
In its present ruined appearance this tower is of a pyramidal 

* Description of Fuentes, A. D. 1700, cited in Mod. Trav. Mexico, 
vol. ii. p. 271. 

t Lyon's Journal of a Tour in Mexico, vol. i. pp. 225, 226, &c. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



9] 



form, but on close examination its figure can be traced by the 
remains of solid walls, to have been a square of thirty-one feet at 
the base, and of the same height. On the other side of the cause- 
way is a similar tower more injured and decayed. From this 
spot the causeway runs to the north-east, the distance of four 
hundred yards, where it reaches the foot of the cliff. At this 
point two other towers, similar to those described at the en- 
trance of the causeway, may be observed ; these probably 
guarded the inner entrance to the citadel. In the middle of 
the causeway, which is raised about a foot and has its rough 
pavement still uninjured, is a large heap of stones, as if the re- 
mains of an altar, around which may be traced a paved border 
of flat slabs arranged in the figure of a six-rayed star. 

As you ascend into the city, the first object striking the atten- 
tion, is a quadrangle two hundred and forty feet by two hundred, 
which to the east is sheltered by a strong wall of unhewn stones 
eight feet in thickness and eighteen in height. A raised terrace 
twenty feet in width passes around the northern and eastern sides 
of this quadrangle ; on the south-east corner of the eastern terrace 
is yet standing a round pillar of rough stones, eighteen feet high 
and nineteen feet in circumference, and there appear to have been 
five other pillars on the eastern, and four on the northern terrace.* 

From the eastern side of this quadrangle you enter another, 
entirely surrounded by perfect walls of the same height and thick- 
ness as those of the former one, and measuring one hundred and 
fifty-four feet by one hundred and thirty -seven. In this are yet 
standing fourteen very well constructed pillars, of equal dimen- 
sions with that in the adjoining enclosure, and arranged four 



* Lyon's Journal of a Tour in Mexico, vol. i. p. 227. 



92 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



in length and three in breadth of the quadrangle, from which 
on every side they separate a space of twenty-three feet in 
width, probably the pavement of a portico, of which they once 
supported the roof. In their construction, as well as in that of 
all the walls of these ruins, a common clay, having straw mixed 
with it, has been used as a cement. 

About three hundred yards to the northward of these quad- 
rangles, is a perfect, square, flat-topped pyramid of large un- 
hewn stones, standing unattached to any other buildings, at 
the foot of the eastern brow of the mountain, which rises ab- 
ruptly behind it. Its base measures fifty feet, and its height 
precisely the same. Off the south-east corner of this pyramid, 
and at about fifteen yards distance, is to be seen the edge of a 
circle of stones, eight feet in diameter, enclosing a bowl-shaped 
pit, in which the action of fire is still plainly visible, — the earth 
containing soot and ashes mixed with pieces of broken pottery. 

At the distance of one hundred yards south-west of this 
pyramid, is a small one, twelve feet square, much injured, and 
situated on somewhat higher ground, in the steep part of the 
ascent to the mountain's brow. On its eastern face, which is 
towards the declivity, the height is eighteen feet, and apparently 
there have been steps by which to descend thence, to a quad- 
rangular space, extending east one hundred feet by a width of 
fifty, and surrounded by a broad terrace. In the middle of this 
enclosure is another bowl-shaped pit somewhat wider than the 
first. 

This quadrangle and the pyramids just described are on the 
eastern side of the mountain, in the ascent of which, other ruins 
are encountered. On this eastern face is a platform twenty- 
eight feet wide, faced by a parapet wall ; and from the base of 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



93 



this wall extends a second platform one hundred and eighteen 
feet wide, with a similar parapet. These form the outer defen- 
sive works of the mountain, which from its figure has materially 
favored their construction. From this eastern face a slightly 
raised and paved causeway, about twenty-five feet in width, 
descends across the valley in the direction of the rising sun, and 
being continued on the opposite side of a stream which flows 
through it, can be traced up the mountains at two miles dis- 
tance, until it terminates at the base of an immense stone 
edifice.* 

In the ascent to the edifices upon the mountain, a well but- 
tressed, but ruined wall is passed. This is a double wall, one 
ten feet wide, having been first constructed, and then covered 
with a very smooth kind of cement; after which the second has 
been built against it. Its height on the steepest side is twenty- 
one feet, and the width on the summit, which is level with an 
extensive platform, is the same. This platform faces the south, 
measures eighty-nine feet by seventy-two, and on its northern 
side stand the ruins of a square building, having within it an 
open space, in the middle of which rises a mound of stones, eight 
feet in height. 

A little further on from this platform, there is an entrance, 
by a broad opening between two very perfect and massive 
walls, to a square of one hundred and fifty feet, surrounded on 
the south, east, and w r est, by an elevated terrace, having in the 
middle of each side steps whereby to descend into the square. 
On the south of this square are two broad entrances, — on the 
east, is another thirty feet in width, communicating with a per- 
fect enclosed square of two hundred feet ; and on the west is a 



* Lyon's Journal, vol. i. p. 229. 



94 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

small opening, leading to an artificial cave or dungeon.* To. 
the north, the square is bounded by the steep mountain, and in 
the middle of that side stands a pyramid with seven stages, 
which in many places are quite perfect. It is flat-topped, has 
four sides, and measures at the base thirty- eight by thirty-five 
feet, while its height is nineteen. Immediately behind this 
pyramid, and on all that portion of the hill which faces the 
square, are numerous tiers of seats, either cut in the rock, or 
built of rough stones. In the middle of the square, and due south 
of the pyramid, is a small quadrangular building, five feet high, 
which it has been supposed was an altar. 

On the west of this square are the remains of an aqueduct, 
and the entrance to the cavern before alluded to. This en- 
trance is narrow, well built with burnt brick, and smoothly 
plastered, but in consequence of the removal of some beams of 
wood that supported the roof, it has fallen in, and become 
impassable. The cave, it has been thought, was a place of 
confinement for victims, who were sacrificed in the great square 
just described, and then precipitated down a cliff in its immedi- 
ate vicinity. " A road or causeway terminates at the foot of 
this precipice, exactly beneath the cave, and overhanging rock ; 
and conjecture can find no other idea of its intended utility, 
unless as being in some manner connected with the purpose of 
the dungeon." 

From this point the ascent conducts to numerous other 
buildings, and to several tanks, constructed with great care and 
strength. From the summit of the rock, there may be distinctly 
traced three straight and very extensive causeways diverging 
from the causeway first described. The most remarkable of 
these, which is forty-six feet in width, commences at a high 

* Lyon's Journal of a Tour in Mexico. voL i. t». 232. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



95 



and long artificial mound, immediately beyond the river, to- 
wards the Hacienda of La Quemada, runs south-west for two 
miles, and crossing the grand causeway is continued to the foot 
of the cliff, immediately beneath the cave. The second may be 
traced south-south-west four miles, and the third, north-west by 
south still further, ceasing, as is reported, at some mountain six 
miles distant. All these roads are slightly raised, are perfectly 
straight, and paved with rough stones. 

On the summit of a rock terminating the ridge, about half a 
mile to the north-west of these ruins, are other buildings : 
among them there may be distinguished a regular pyramid, 
with sloping sides, a square base, and flat top, and with steps 
in the middle of its southern face, by which to ascend to the 
summit ; and also massive walls, long mounds of stone, and a 
small square pyramid with three steps or terraces. 

In the vicinity, the remains of plaster have been found, and 
porphyry arrow-heads, but no fragments of obsidian. An im- 
mense block of porphyry is pointed out, called " Piedra del 
Monarca," on which there is a natural or artificial indentation, 
somewhat resembling the print of a naked foot, which, as the 
tradition runs, has been caused by actual pressure.* 

* This description has been taken, with great freedom, from 
Captain Lyon's valuable account, and has been rather minutely tran- 
scribed, from the circumstance that it presents evidence of the ex- 
istence of ruins far to the north of Mexico, which are analogous to 
those in Central America and Yucatan : for which reason also it has 
been placed in the text so as to facilitate immediate comparison with 
the latter. M. Joseph Burkart also visited these ruins, during his 
residence in Mexico, and in his opinion, they " date their origin from a 
period long, very long before the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards." 



96 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

Copan. — In Honduras, on the right or northern bank of the 
river Copan, a tributary of the Motagua, are the ruins of the 
ancient city of Copan. The remains of fallen buildings are to 
be observed extending along the river for two miles ; and 
among these, at an elevation of forty yards above the water, 
and standing at the eastern extremity of the city, is a large 
edifice, two hundred and fifty yards long from north to south, and 
two hundred yards broad from east to west. Its base appears to 
have been an elevated terrace, accessible from the exterior, on 
three of its sides, by stone steps, which in some parts are in a 
state of ruin. After ascending these, there is a descent by 
flights of stairs into a square in the middle of the edifice, twenty 
yards above the level of the river : a gallery scarcely four feet 
high and two and a half broad leads from this square, through 
a more elevated part of the building overhanging the river, to 
an opening on the face of the precipice. Among many exca- 
vations, one made at the entrance of this gallery disclosed a 
sepulchral vault, more than six feet high, ten feet long, and five 
and a half broad, and lying due north and south according to 
the compass. Upon each of its sides there were two niches, 
which, as well as the floor of the vault, were full of red earth- 
enware dishes and pots, many of them filled with human bones 
packed in lime. The floor of the vault was constructed of solid 
stone coated with lime, and was strewed with fragments of 
bones. Among the articles found in this chamber were knives 
of chaya, stalactites, marine shells ; and a small head, appa- 
rently representing death, its eyes being nearly shut and the 
lower features distorted : it was of exquisite workmanship, and 
" cut out or cast from a fine stone covered with green enamel." 

The most remarkable objects in these ruins are stone col- 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 97 

mnns, ten or eleven feet high and about three broad, with a less 
thickness, seven of which are standing entire, and numerous 
others fallen and destroyed. Upon one side of these obelisks 
were wrought in low relief human figures, sculptured with a 
full front and with their hands resting on their breast : " they 
are dressed w T ith caps on their heads, and sandals on their feet, 
and clothed in highly adorned garments, generally reaching half- 
way down the thigh, but sometimes in long pantaloons." The 
back and sides of the obelisks generally contain hieroglyphics 
in square tablets ; and opposite these monuments, at a distance 
of three or four yards, was commonly placed a stone table or 
altar. One of these altars, in the temple, which is two feet four 
inches high and four feet ten inches square, contains upon its 
top forty-nine square tablets of hieroglyphics ; and its four sides 
are occupied by sixteen human figures in low relief, sitting 
cross-legged on cushions carved in the stone, with fans in their 
hands. 

" Monstrous figures are found amongst the ruins ; one rep- 
resents the colossal head of an alligator, having in its jaws a 
figure with a human face, but the paws of an animal ; another 
monster has the appearance of a gigantic toad in an erect pos- 
ture, with human arms and tiger's claws. On neighboring 
hills stand, one to the east and the other to the west of the city, 
two obelisks containing hieroglyphics alone, in squares ; these 
obelisks, like the generality of those in the city, are painted 
red, and are thicker and broader at the top than at the bottom. 
Mounts of stone, formed by fallen edifices, are found throughout 
the neighboring country."* 

* This description is taken from a paper, written at Copan, by 
Colonel Galindo, late Governor of the Province of Peten. in Central 

13 



98 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

Copan at the conquest was a large and populous city ; we 
find it mentioned as inhabited so late as 1570, but it is now 
deserted.* From the description afforded by Fuentes, as cited 
in Juarros, there is reason to suppose that some of the obelisks 
were arranged in a circular form. He wrote in the year 1700, 
and describes as existing at that time, entire, " the Great Circus 
of Copan," " a circular space surrounded by stone pyramids 
about six yards high, at the bases of which are figures, both 
male and female, habited in the Castilian costume, of very ex- 
cellent sculpture, and colored." " In the middle of the area," 
he adds, " a flight of steps led to the place of sacrifice. At a 
short distance is a stone gateway, on the pillars of which are 
sculptured figures, likewise in Spanish habits ; and on entering 
this gateway two fine stone pyramids present themselves, from 
which is suspended a hammock containing two human figures 
clothed in the Indian style. Astonishment is forcibly excited 
on viewing this structure, because, large as it is, there is no 

America, and published in Archseologia Americana, vol. ii. p. 545. 
The author, in his Communication to the President of the American 
Antiquarian Society, explains the cause of its brevity in the following 
words: "The Government of Central America intends publishing, 
in Castilian, a long report I have drawn up, with relation to the ruins 
and history of this place, with various plans, views, and copies of 
figures and inscriptions ; I therefore at present confine myself to these 
few remarks." 

* Colonel Galindo says that " this place remained long celebrated 
for the superior quality of its tobacco ; but the cultivation of this plant 
being removed, as royal property, to the Llanos de Santa Rosa, 
towards the east, seventy-five years ago, Copan has gradually fallen 
into decay, and is now reduced to a small hamlet, in the western sub- 
urb of the ancient city." — Arch. Am. vol. ii. p. 459. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



99 



appearance of the component parts being joined together ; and 
although entirely of stone, and of an enormous weight, it may 
be put in motion by the slightest impulse of the hand."* 

About seventeen leagues directly south of Merida in the 
peninsula of Yucatan are the ruins of Uxmal or Itzlan.f The 
same exaggerated statements have been made with regard to 
the extent of these remains, as in relation to those of Palenque. 
These edifices are situated on a plain eight leagues long and 
from one half to two leagues broad; those we are about to describe 
occupy, however, but a small circuit. In the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries they were in a good state of preservation, 
and most of the injuries now perceptible are of recent date.| 
These monuments when discovered were in the midst of a for- 
est, with trees growing everywhere upon their surface. The 
city, according to Waldeck, is extended in a south-westerly di- 
rection; and in the space of eight leagues, many monuments may 
be found at short intervals from each other. The most remark- 
able edifices lie together, and consist, in the first place, of four 
great buildings, arranged on the sides of a quadrangular terrace, 

* Juarros, cited in Modern Traveller, Mexico, vol. ii. pp. 299, 300. 
Waldeck says that this hammock is not to be found at Copan. 

f Voyage Pittoresque et Archeologique Dans La Province D' Yu- 
catan, 1834, 1836, par Frederick De Waldeck, p. 68. 

X Uxmal, says Mr. Waldeck, signifies " Temps passe," p. 68. Cog- 
olludo and Gutierre are referred to by Waldeck, as " the only guides 
of modern authors." But Uxmal is probably the same place as was 
visited by the Rev. Father Thomas de Soza, and described as situ- 
ate twenty leagues to the southward of the city of Merida, and where 
he reported that he had seen stone edifices covered with stucco orna- 
ments and statues of men beating drums, and dancing with palms in 
their hands. — Del Rio, p. 7. 



Lore. 



100 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

which is fifteen feet high, and about a thousand in circuit; its sides 
corresponding accurately with the cardinal points. The length 
of the building which faces the south is two hundred and twen- 
ty-nine feet eight inches, and its breadth twenty-seven feet eight 
inches. It is divided into sixteen chambers disposed in two rows, 
over the doors of which there are rings of stone, supposed to have 
been used as supporters to tapestries or curtains ; and two lateral 
chambers across which, beams of wood, one of which is still 
visible, appear to have been placed, wherefrom hammocks, it is 
conjectured, were suspended. Over the doorways of these cham- 
bers, and on the inner facade of the building, are eighteen repre- 
sentations of the sign calli : these representations are variously 
ornamented. The whole of this extensive building is bisected 
by a great doorway or entrance, whence you penetrate into 
the great square or court. This edifice is not so high as any of 
the other four, the loftiest of which is the one situated on the 
northern side of the square. 

The monument on the north side is much decayed and dis- 
integrated, but its dimensions, the number of its chambers, 
and the character of its ornaments, are precisely like those of 
the southern building. 

The edifice on the eastern side of the terrace is one hun- 
dred and seventy-six feet five inches long, thirty-four feet six 
inches broad, is entered by four doorways, and is divided into 
fourteen chambers ; upon its facade an emblem of the sun similar 
to the Mexican is repeated seven times. 

That on the western side of the terrace is, with a slight 
variation, of the same size, except in height, and of the same 
general construction as the others. Within, and enclosed 
by this quadrangular mass of buildings, is a corridor six feet 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



101 



wide running round the four sides, whence there is a descent 
by a flight of steps from each of the four temples to a spacious 
open rectangular court. This court is curiously paved with 
stones six inches square, each of which is exquisitely cut in 
demi-relief, with the full and accurate figure of a tortoise. 
These are arranged in fours, with the heads of the tortoises to- 
gether. They are forty-three thousand six hundred and sixty in 
number, covering the whole superficies of the court, and though 
composed of a very hard stone, appear much worn. 

The terrace on which these four edifices are erected, was 
accessible on its eastern and southern sides, by stairs or steps, 
which now are little more than inclined planes, for most 
of the steps have crumbled away. This terrace was 
flanked on its northern and southern sides, at a short distance, 
by ten tumuli symmetrically arranged — five on each side — which 
have been destroyed in the search after treasures ; and in its 
vicinity are other remains of terraces and buildings, which, so 
far as they have been examined, appear to be of a similar cha- 
racter. The Great Teocalli which is situated to the east of the 
mass of buildings just described, is a lofty pyramid,* with an 
exterior coating of stone work. The stones used at the base 
are the largest, and their size diminishes as you proceed up- 
ward to the platform. The slab above the door, and the four 
pillars of the eastern facade of the temple on its summit, are 
the only large stones observable in this structure. This pyra- 
mid was ascended on the eastern side by a flight of one hundred 
steps, each of which was one foot high and five inches broad. 
Its superior platform is ninety-one feet eight inches long, 

* Mr. Waldeck says, " the loftiest and most remarkable of fif- 
teen I have seen." p. 71. 



102 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



and forty-five feet wide, and supports a temple eighty-one 
feet eight inches long, by fourteen feet eight inches broad. 
This temple contained three chambers, and on its front, on the 
western side of the pyramid, is a little platform, the sides of 
which are curiously sculptured, and whereon, it is supposed, 
sacrifices were performed ; after which the dead bodies were 
precipitated down the side of the pyramid. On the western 
facade of the temple are four human figures, similar to Cary- 
atides, cut in stone, with great fidelity and elegance. Their 
hands are crossed upon the breast, and hold some instrument ; 
the head is enveloped in a covering resembling a casque, with 
an ear appendage like the Egyptian ; about the neck is a gar- 
ment of the skin of the Caiman, with a border beautifully 
worked ; and about the body is a girdle. Above each of these 
is a sculptured death's head, with four cross-bones. All these 
sculptures are executed with great richness, and are brilliantly 
colored. The east facade of the temple has two apartments or 
doorways, and two little pavilions, each supported by two 
pilasters, above which appear some indications of capitals. The 
sides of this pyramid were covered with trees,* and are very pre- 
cipitous : upon its corners, it is thought the head of the elephant 
is sculptured. 

It may be observed in conclusion that at Uxmal no reliefs 
in stucco appear, but all its sculptures are in stone, well 
cut ; and some of them subsequently covered with stucco. The 
ruins are of a colossal character, and on a scale of grandeur. 
The walls of the chambers in the temples, though constructed 
of hewn stone, are stuccoed with a hard black stucco, and there 

* The largest trees were only five inches in diameter. — Waldeck, 
p. 98. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 103 

are no paintings upon them. These cells have no windows, 
and their ceilings are arched with the Cyclopean arch. The 
small stones which ornament the facades of the temples, are 
cut with great care into precise geometrical figures, and are 
laid with extreme accuracy. " J'ai mesure tous ces details," 
says Waldeck, " J'ai fait glisserle plomb sur toutes les jointures, 
et je nai jamais trouve la plus legere deviation sousle cordeau." 

Many symbolic figures and hieroglyphics are represented 
on various parts of the ruins ; these are all of consequence, in 
a comparative view of the American Antiquities, but in one in- 
stance w T e have a design of great singularity. It consists of a 
double triangle and globe, so arranged as to suggest the idea 
of having been intended to symbolize the four elements, earth, 
air, fire and water. 

Seven leagues from Merida are ruins of edifices constructed 
with stones of enormous size, and covered with sculptures. They 
are called " Tixhualajtun," a word, it is said, signifying " a place 
where one stone is over another." Here have been observed one 
hundred and seventeen stones, sculptured with hieroglyphic signs, 
and inserted in the wall. The empty places of fourteen of these 
stones, which have fallen down, are observed, which make, to- 
gether with the others, one hundred and thirty-one, marking, as 
is maintained, one hundred and thirty-one Katouns or Maya 
ages. A part of this wall has fallen down, so that the whole 
number of Katouns which may have existed there is left to con- 
jecture.* 

Beneath the city of Campeachy are subterranean cham- 
bers excavated in the rock. It is difficult to say whether 
they were employed as dwellings or as sepulchres ; though the 



* Waldeck, p. 73. 



104 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

latter conjecture appears the most probable.* Not far from 
this city are some fine ruins, and also a large tumulus together 
with several smaller ones of different sizes. It is said that the 
island of Cozumel where Cortez first landed, lying off the north- 
eastern coast of Yucatan, also abounds in ancient remains. 

Of the fortifications of the Mexicans and the neighboring na- 
tions, the annals of the conquerors afford us very copious descrip- 
tions. For the protection of their towns and cities, they employed 
palisadoes,f ditches,! entrenchments and w r alls of solid mason- 
work. Besides the vestiges of these works still to be perceived 
near some of the ruins of cities already described, others have 
been discovered more justly entitled to the rank of fortresses. 
Near the village of Molcaxac, the top of a mountain is sur- 
rounded by four walls placed at some distance from each other, 
from the base to the summit of the mountain. Twenty-five 
miles north of Cordova are the ruins of the fortress of Guatusco, 
consisting of high walls of stone, the only access to which is 
by a flight of high and narrow steps.§ Among the traces of 
the ancient fortifications may yet be observed those of the great 
wall of TlascalaJI a monument which in its design and character 
reminds us of similar structures in the eastern hemisphere. It 
was constructed, as Cortez was informed by the Indians, by the 
" ancient inhabitants" of that republic, to defend themselves 
against the invasions of their enemies: other portions of the fron- 
tier were protected in a similar manner by ditches and entrench- 
ments.1I De Solis describes it as " a great wall which ran from the 
one mountain to the other, entirely stopping up the way: a sump- 

* Waldeck, pp. 9, 10, 11, 28, 102. t De Solis, vol. i. p. 93. 

X Ibid, vol. ii. p. 391. § Clavigero, vol. i. p. 313. 

|| Humboldt's Pol, Essay, vol. ii. p. 119. Clavigero, vol. i. p. 373. 
De Solis, vol. ii. p. 235. H Clavigero, p. 34. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



105 



tuous and strong piece of building, which showed the power 
and greatness of the owner. The outside was of hewn stone 
cemented with mortar of extraordinary strength. It was twenty- 
feet thick and a fathom and a half high ; and on the top was 
a parapet after the manner of our fortifications. The entrance 
was narrow and winding, the wall in that part dividing, and 
making two walls, which circularly crossed each other for the 
space of ten paces."* Clavigero, who says its remains were still 
visible when he wrote, describes it as stretching from one moun- 
tain to another, six miles in length, eight feet in height, besides 
the breastwork, eighteen feet in thickness, and as made of 
stone cemented with mortar.f 

The remains of the Granaries and Temazcalli have not 
wholly disappeared. The former were storehouses in which 
the maize was collected, and were constructed either of wood 
or stone. The only entrances or outlets were two windows, 
one near the base, the other near the top of the building and 
somewhat larger than the former. The Temazcalli or vapor 
baths were built with stone or brick, in the form of a dome. 
The entrance was low and near the bottom, the floor was 
slightly convex and the roof arched, the height from five to six 
feet, and the diameter about eight.! 

None of the ruins exhibit the skill, enterprise, industry and 
perseverance of the ancient inhabitants, more than those of 
their roads and aqueducts. Many of these have already been 
incidentally noticed ; and it is manifest from the remains of 
some of their roads, that both in their design, and in the cha- 

* De Solis. vol. i. p. 242. English Translation. London, 1738. 
f Clav. vol. i. p. 373. 

1 Clav. vol. ii. p. 371. Ibid. vol. i. pp. 429, 377. 

14 



106 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



racter of their structure, they were public works worthy of 
any of the civilized nations of Europe in the sixteenth century. 
Along these were stationed, couriers, who communicated intelli- 
gence from one part of the country to another — a system of 
posting we are surprised to find existing in America at that 
period. The city of Mexico, which was built on several islands 
near the shore of the lake, was connected to the mainland by 
four great causeways or dikes, the remains of which still exist* 
One of these to the south, the same by which Cortez enter- 
ed, was nearly two leagues long — another to the north about 
one league, and the third at the west somewhat less.f The 
fourth supported the celebrated aqueduct of Chapoltepec, by 
which water was conducted from springs, upon an insulated 
hill of that name, at the distance of from two to three miles. 
They were all constructed in a massive style with earth and 
stone, and with the exception of the last were so broad that ten 
horsemen could ride abreast. | These causeways and the roads 
which led from them were of recent construction, and demon- 
strate that the Mexicans were fully competent to the erection 
of monuments equal to the ancient roads of Xochicalco and 
Zacatecas. 

The aqueduct of Chapoltepec consisted of two conduits 
formed of solid mason work§ — each five feet high and two 
paces broad — by which the water was introduced into the 

* Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 32. 

t De Solis, vol. i. p. 394. Clavig. vol. ii. p. 71. 

X Cortez says in his letter to Charles V., they were "of the 
breadth of two lances." 

§ De Solis, vol. ii. p. 414. Ibid. vol. i. p. 408. Humboldt's Pol. 
Essay, vol. ii. p. 30. Clavig. vol. i. p. 421. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 107 

city for the supply of various fountains. Olid and Alvarado 
commenced the siege of Mexico by attempting to cut off 
this supply of water, an enterprise which the Mexicans endeav- 
ored to prevent. " There appeared on that side," says De 
Solis, " two or three rows of pipes, made of trees hollowed, 
supported by an aqueduct of lime and stone, and the enemy had 
cast up some trenches to cover the avenue to it. But the two 
captains marched out of Tacuba with most of their troops, and 
though they met with a very obstinate resistance, they drove 
the enemy from their post, and broke the pipes and aqueduct in 
two or three places, and the water took its natural course into 
the lake." Humboldt says, there are still to be perceived the 
remains of another aqueduct, w T hich conducted to the city the 
waters of the spring of Amilco, near Churubusco. This aque- 
duct, as described by Cortez, consisted of two conduits composed 
of clay tempered with mortar, about two paces in breadth, and 
raised about six feet. In one of them was conveyed a stream 
of excellent water, as large as the body of a man, into the 
centre of the city. The other was empty, so that when it be- 
came necessary to clean or repair the former, the water might 
be turned into it;* which was the case also with those of Cha- 
poltepec, " of which one was always in use, whenever the 
other required cleaning."! 

Sculpture. We still can trace among the natives of this 
part of the continent, indications of that peculiar talent for 
rich, complicated, and laborious sculpture, which must have 
distinguished the authors of the idols, statues and planispheres 

* Robertson's Hist. Am. note 148. De Solis, vol. ii. p. 414. 
Lozenzano, p. 108, cited in Humboldt, 
t De Solis, vol. i. p. 408. 



108 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



that adorned their palaces and temples. Humboldt remarks, 
that the Mexicans have preserved a particular fondness for the 
art of carving in wood or stone, and expresses his astonishment 
" at what they are able to execute with a bad knife on the 
hardest wood,"* and at their " great aptitude in the exercise of 
the arts of imitation." Waldeck makes a similar remark of 
the Yucatanese, and speaks of their natural talent and skill for 
carving in stone, even with the rudest instruments.! Besides 
the remains of ancient sculpture which have been found in 
many of the ruins already described, there are some other idols 
and monuments which merit attention, both as justifying these 
observations, and as possessing some interest in themselves. 

Within the cathedral of Mexico, sunk in the earth, with the 
surface alone visible, is the celebrated piece of sculpture called 
the Stone of Sacrifice. It is a porphyry stone, twenty-five feet 
in circumference, containing in the centre a head in relief, sur- 
rounded by twenty groups of two figures each, all represented 
in the same attitude. 

One of the figures is always the same; being a warrior, 
with his right hand resting on the helmet of a man, who is 
offering him flowers in token of submission, and who, sup- 
posed to represent a captive, wears the dress of the nation to 
which he belonged ; behind him is a hieroglyphic denoting the 
conquered province. On the upper surface of the stone, there 
is a groove of some depth, designed to let off the blood of the 
victims. This stone, as is thought by Humboldt, was intended 
as an area, upon which the customary gladiatorial contests be- 
tween foreign prisoners destined for sacrifice, and six Mexican 
warriors, took place. If the unfortunate captive succeeded in 
* Political Essay, vol. i. p. 129. | Waldeck, p. 34. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 109 

conquering all his opponents, notwithstanding the great nume- 
rical advantage against him, he was released ; otherwise the 
tragedy terminated in his being dragged to the altar by the 
priest, who there put an end to his existence by opening his 
breast and tearing out his heart. 

In the wall of the same cathedral, there is another stone 
called Montezuma's watch, or the Calendar stone. This is 
likewise formed of porphyry, it weighs twenty-four tons, is 
finely cut and polished, and is twenty-seven feet in circum- 
ference. In its centre is a head in relief, representing the sun 
with a yawning mouth, and protruding tongue, similar to the 
image of Kala, the Chronos of Hindostan. This head is sur- 
rounded by a double row of hieroglyphics ; the outer one of 
which is divided into twenty compartments, and cut by eight 
triangular rays ; the whole system of symbols being encircled 
by three rows of ornaments in relief, tastefully designed and 
executed with precision and neatness.* 

The idol of the goddess Teoyamiqui, which lies concealed 
in the University of Mexico, a statue of colossal dimensions, and 
terrible form, is described by a modern traveller, " as hewn out 
of one solid block of basalt, nine feet high. Its outlines give 
an idea of a deformed human figure, uniting all that is horrible 
in the tiger and rattlesnake. Instead of arms, it is supplied 
with two large serpents, and its drapery is composed of wreath- 
ed snakes, interwoven in the most disgusting manner, and the 
sides terminating in the wings of a vulture, Its feet are those 

* Upon the hill of Tezcuco, near Montezuma's bath, there was 
formerly another Toltec Calendar stone, in a perpendicular wall of 
rock, the sculpture of which is now wholly defaced. — Latrobe's Ram- 
bler in Mexico, p. 140. 



no 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



of a tiger, and between them lies the head of another rattle- 
snake, which seems descending from the body of the idol. For 
decorations, it has a large necklace composed of human hearts, 
hands, and skulls, and it has evidently been painted originally 
in natural colors."* 

At Tezcuco, lying neglected under a gateway, an idol has 
been observed, nearly perfect, and representing a rattlesnake ; 
it appears to have been originally painted with various colors, 
which were rendered vivid and distinct when discovered, by 
washing. At the town of Las Tamaulipas, a village supposed 
to be upon the site of one of the ancient cities, and situated 
near Tampico, two very perfect idols sculptured in basalt have 
been disinterred from the earth, together with several small 
figures, and imitations of weapons carved in bone ;f and not far 
from this place, on the river Panuco, there is an ancient statue.J 
Still further up the Panuco, and near the Rancho of San Juan, 
an imperfect piece of sculpture has been seen, resembling the 
lion-figure-head of a ship, several more of which are reported 
to exist at an ancient city some few leagues distant, called 
Quai-a-lam. At the museum in the University at Mexico are 
various articles of sculpture, and among them is a variety of 
figures of the rattlesnake in basalt; they are in the same pos- 
ture, namely, a compact coil, from which the head and rattle 
are somewhat elevated. With these are also a few mutilated 
figures of men and animals, and some fragments of little dei- 
ties^ In a private cabinet in the city of Mexico, is the statue 
of a female, which has been considered as the figure of an 

* Humboldt varies slightly from this description. — Hum. Res. vol. ii. 
t Lyon's Journal of a Tour in Mexico, etc., 1828, vol. i. pp. 21, 28. 
% Ibid. pp. 49, 85, 101. § Ibid. vol. ii. p. 109. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. Ill 

Aztec priestess. This is a basaltic statue representing a fe- 
male in a sitting posture, and it is executed with finished accu- 
racy. Humboldt has observed that the head-dress is remarkable 
for resembling the Egyptian veil or calantica, more particular!) 
that style found upon the pillars of Tentyra, and that the back 
is similar to that of a bronze statue of Osiris in the museum at 
Velletri. The peculiar difference in the Mexican sculpture 
consists in a string of pearls, which encircles the forehead, and 
which is supposed to indicate a former commercial connection 
between Mexico and the Pearl Coast of California.* 

A relief sculptured upon a hard black stone, and discovered 
near the town of Oaxaca, the ancient Huaxyacac, the capital 
of the Zapotecs, represents a warrior, who, as well as the other 
figures, is remarkable for a large nose, and a head-dress similar 
to those delineated upon the Mexican hieroglyphic paintings at 
Velletri. The warrior has two skulls at his girdle, and wears 
an apron of the jaguar skin, with its tail appended, the Mexi- 
can vest, long sleeves, and buskins. Two naked men are seated 
cross-legged at his feet.f Another idol executed in basalt, 
found in the valley of Mexico, is distinguished for the same 
Egyptian style of head-dress observed in the statue of the Aztec 
priestess before described.t Certain granite vases of beautiful 
form, disinterred upon the shores of Honduras, exhibit a great 
resemblance in their ornaments, to those described upon the 
walls of Mitlan.§ 

Fragments of obsidian generally abound' in the neighbor- 
hood of the Mexican ruins. It is supposed that the quarry, 
from which this substance was obtained, is situated in the moun- 

* Humboldt's Res. vol. i. p. 43. f Ibid. vol. i. p. 130. 

% Ibid. vol. i. p. 90. § Ibid. vol. i. p. 90. 



112 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



tain of Los Pelados. On an adjacent mountain called "the 
Mountain of the Knives," pieces of obsidian, of the form of 
arrow-heads and knife-blades, which have been fractured by 
the ancient inhabitants for use, are found in great numbers.* 
The vein and the pits sunk for the working' of the obsidian are 
on the summit of Los Pelados, but at the present day this quarry 
is nearly filled up. In the museum of the University at Mexico 
there is a large mask of obsidian, " well carved and propor- 
tioned, and exquisitely polished." 

Earthenware. In the vicinity of the ruins which have 
been described, large quantities of fragments of earthenware 
are of constant occurrence, and many entire vessels have been 
found, which for exquisite workmanship and graceful design 
are exceedingly remarkable. The art of working in clay was 
not however confined to the construction of vessels only, but 
extended to the manufacture of other articles. 

At Las Tamaulipas, idols in terra cotta have been dug up, 
representing not only the human face, but also the peculiar 
head-dress which was common among the former inhabitants 
of that district.! At the village of Panuco about forty miles 
above Tampico, on the river Panuco, these remains are numer- 
ous. Among them we find described, odd, grotesque looking 
figures and idols in terra cotta, vases, a little bird-shaped whistle 
of earthenware, having two holes on each side, so that a tune 
might be produced from it, and a very perfect earthen flute.f 
Indeed, the streets of Panuco are to this day strewed thickly 
with the remains of ancient crockery ; and often, after heavy 

* Lyon's Tour in Mexico, vol. ii. p. 143, 145. 

f Ibid. vol. i. pp. 28, 100. X Ibid. pp. 52, 53, 54. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 113 

rains, entire vessels and toys are found washed down the water 
courses." One of these vases is said to have been carved with 
those peculiar flourishes, introduced in the Mexican manuscripts, 
and another flute composed of a very compact red clay appeared 
to have been once polished, and painted. It had four holes, and 
the mouth part was in the form of a grotesque head. " Some 
of the vases yet retain their colors and vitreous glazing, and 
many are of an earth as light and well baked, as that of Tusca- 
ny ; while the figures, from their singular attitudes and gro- 
tesque expression, might serve as models to the toy-makers of 
the present day. The flutes, single and double, with two, three 
or four holes, the oddly shaped pipes and whistles, and the jars 
modelled into birds, toads and other animals — all in terra 
cotta, exhibit as much humor as ingenuity, and are found, either 
entire or broken, in such quantities as to induce a belief that 
Panuco was actually a mart for crockery-ware." These fig- 
ures, it may be remarked, to save repetition, bear the closest re- 
semblance to those of other terra cottas, found in more distant 
provinces. 

Hieroglyphical Paintings. It would be far beyond the scope 
of this brief notice, of some of the monuments of the southern 
portion of North America, to give a detailed view of the contents 
of those hieroglyphical paintings, which record nearly all that is 
left to us, of the ancient history and customs of the inhabitants of 
that territory. Though the number saved from the hands of the 
Spaniards is few, even these remnants are rich in minute de- 
scriptions of the annals, manners, religion, science and polity 
of the various nations. 

Fragments of hieroglyphic manuscripts are preserved in libra- 

15 



114 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



ries at Berlin, Dresden, the Escurial, Vienna, Velletri, Rome, 
Bologna and Mexico. 

One of those at Berlin, made after the Spanish conquest, 
contains the genealogy of the Princes of Azcapozalco,* a small 
district in the valley of Mexico. These kings claimed to be of 
Acolhuan descent, and of ancient and noble blood. From this 
picture two points may be gathered : 

1st. That the dead are delineated, as having their feet wrap- 
ped up ; while the living are distinguished by small tongues 
placed near the mouth, and by having their feet at liberty. 

2d. That the names of these princes are represented by 
hieroglyphics tied to the head ; these names were pronounced 
by the natives, upon observing the symbol. Attached to 
this manuscript is a curious description of a lawsuit: paint- 
ings of this kind, were used as statements of the claims of liti- 
gant parties, and left with the judge both as minutes of the evi- 
dence, and as records. Other paintings in the Berlin collection 
contain lists of tributes, detailed genealogies, and historical de- 
scriptions of the various migrations into New Spain. In some 
of them, the figure of the Aztec shield is worthy of notice, as 
being similar to some found upon Etruscan vases.f 

Of the Codices Vaticanse at Rome, which are mentioned by 
Acosta, one is thought to consist of ritual almanacs. Upon one of 
its pages we find an adoration entirely Hindoo in its character. It 
is made before a deity, by a human figure touching the ground 
with his right hand, and his mouth with the left.J In the other 
of these manuscripts shields are again depicted resembling the 
Etruscan ; and warriors contending with the net, very much 

* Humboldt's Res., vol. i. p. 135. f Ibid, vol. ii. p. 89. 
\ Ibid. vol. L p. 194. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



115 



after the manner of the Roman Retiarii. The princes are 
distinguished by a red ribbon tying the hair, the badge of 
nobles and heroes : and the kings are exhibited with naked feet, 
as it was their custom always to be carried ; many of the figures 
wear beads or rosaries.* 

The Mexican manuscripts seen by Humboldt, in the palace 
of the viceroy in the city of Mexico, represented the journeys of 
the Aztecs from the north, the construction of several cities, 
and the principal events of their wars.r 

The Codex Borgianus of Velletri is the largest one in Italy, 
and contains a ritual and astrological almanac! Among other 
curious figures, we find a priest wearing: a remarkable helmet, 
resembling the trunk of an elephant ; and upon another page, 
the head of a priest sacrificing;, covered with a pointed cap, the 
original of which occurs frequently in eastern Asia and on the 
north-west coast of America. 

In the Vienna collection we find the targets and shields 
before referred to, and the outlines of temples. § The human 
figures are generally distinguished by the absence of beard, 
larg-e Roman noses, and the pointed form of the head, though 
there is often considerable variety in the features.|| 

* Humboldt's Res., vol. ii. p. 20. Vol. i. pp. 203. 204. 
f Ibid. vol. i. p. 1S9. See also Clavigero, voL i. p. 30. 
i Humboldt's Res., vol. ii. pp. 36, 204. 211. 
§ Robertson's Hist. Am., p. 365. 

|| " This collection," says Dr. Robertson, who had accurate copies 
taken of them, " appears to have been a present from Emmanuel, 
King of Portugal, to Pope Clement VII.. who died A. D. 15S3. After 
passing through the hands of several illustrious proprietors, it fell into 
those of the Cardinal of Saxe-Eisenach, who presented it to the Em- 
peror Leopold." — History of America, p. 365. Note. 



116 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

The manuscript in the Escurial appears to contain a sacred 
or ritual calendar,* and shows the signs of the days and months, 
together with their astrological influences. 

The Mendoza collection of paintings, which is probably 
now lost, was owned by Hakluyt and published by Purchas.f 
It was divided into three parts ; the first giving the history of 
the Aztec dynasty of Mexico, from the foundation of that city 
to the death of Montezuma ; the second, a list of the tributes 
paid by each town and province to the Emperor ; and the third 
containing a view of Mexican manners and institutions, public 
and domestic.J Mexican temples are here delineated, usually 
of a pyramidal form, but occasionally constructed in another 
style. The pyramids are divided into steps or terraces, and 
have buildings upon their summits, where we find priests sit- 
ting, and watching the stars. 

The Codex Mexicanus of Bologna§ relates, like that of the 
Escurial, to astronomy and religion ; and that of Dresden ex- 
hibits strong indications of real hieroglyphics. 

The copies at Paris, and those of Gemelli and Boturini,|| 
seem to be authentic, and are almost as valuable as originals ; 

* Robertson's Hist Am., p. 366. 

f This collection, made by Don Antonio Mendoza, the first bishop 
of Mexico, was sent as a present to Charles V. Falling into the hands 
of the French, they came into the possession of the geographer The- 
venot, of whose heirs they were purchased by Hakluyt. It is said 
that a Mexican painting exists at Oxford, which may probably be a 
fragment of the collection of Purchas.— Humboldt's Res., vol. i. p. 188. 

X Clavigero, vol. i. p. 29. Robertson, p. 229. Humboldt's Res., 
vol. i. pp. 180, 184, 186. 

§ Clavigero, vol. i. p. 406. || Robertson, pp. 365, 229. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 117 

among them are the Mexican annals and migrations, chronolo- 
gical calculations, and tribute rolls,* 

The material, upon which the paintings are depicted, is of 
two kinds; — those at Rome, Vienna, Velletri and Bologna are 
on stag-skins ; others are formed upon the Maguey or Agave 
paper, made, like the Egyptian rolls of papyrus, by a transverse 
disposition of the fibres of the leaves, after being macerated in 
water.f Some specimens of Mexican paper are as thin as the 
Chinese ; and others, such as the manuscripts of the Escurial, 
are of great thickness. J Many of the paintings have explana- 
tory notes appended to them, in the Spanish or Mexican lan- 
guage, which are valuable as expositions contemporaneous with 
a period, when the picture writing was better understood than 

* The copies of Gemelli were taken from the paintings in the col- 
lection of Siguenza, which, at his death, passed into the hands of the 
Jesuits in Mexico. Boturini, who was ardently devoted to the study 
of Mexican history, formed a valuable museum, during his long resi- 
dence in that country, in which were many of these paintings. When 
he unfortunately became an object of suspicion to the Spanish govern- 
ment his manuscripts were seized ; some of them were lost by the 
capture of the vessel in which they were sent to Europe. Some came 
into the possession of the Archbishop of Toledo, a portion of which 
was published ; and probably most of the remainder have perished, 
excepting a few still left in the city of Mexico. — Clavigero, vol. i. p. 
30. A copy of one, representing the Mexican migrations, has recently 
been published by Mr. Delafleld. 

t Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 375. 

X Waldeck, who thinks that many of the manuscripts have been 
fabricated or forged, says that those painted before the arrival of the 
Spaniards maybe distinguished by the thickness of the paper. — Voy- 
age Piltoresque, p. 46. 



118 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



at present. The volumes were not separated into leaves, nor 
formed into rolls, but were folded up in a zig-zag manner, like 
the Siamese manuscripts.* The pictorial part of the manu- 
scripts, exhibits forms which betray very little skill in delinea- 
tion, and less elegance and taste in design, but it has been 
justly remarked, that the principal forms have doubtless been 
early fixed, and as their sole purpose was the conveyance of 
ideas, there existed a strong necessity for adhering to the origi- 
nal figures; any change being productive of much more confu- 
sion than would be produced by an alteration of the alphabet, 
or of the grammatical construction of our own language. The 
human forms are usually dwarfish and with large heads, like 
those on the Etruscan reliefs, and the heads are always repre- 
sented in profile : among them, grotesque and hideous figures 
continually occur, reminding us of the Hindoo representations 
of deities.f 

It has been insisted that the Mexicans possessed no hiero- 
glyphics. Without entering at this time into the discussion, it 
may be observed here, that the picture writings separately con- 
sidered, cannot of course be considered as hieroglyphics — for 
representing individual and particular occurrences, they were 
widely different from that system of communication, which 
possesses the power of indicating general ideas by symbolic 
signs. In the manuscripts, however, we find figures which have 
been arbitrarily chosen to indicate certain objects, and others 
which are real hieroglyphics representing the elements, the 
relations of number, time, and place, and proper names. 

* Humboldt's Res., vol. i. p. 163. f Ibid. vol. I. 165, etc. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



119 



It will be perceived, that in these brief notices of the most 
remarkable ruins in this portion of the continent, such detailed 
and minute descriptions, as are afforded by the sources from 
whence they have been taken, have been avoided. The object 
has been, to embrace a general view of their style, character, 
numbers, and local position, so as to lay the basis of a general 
comparison of all the American monuments — and not to attempt 
a particular and circumstantial description ; which, to be un- 
derstood, should be accompanied with pictorial illustrations. 
Among those omitted, are numerous designs, ornaments in stucco, 
sculptures and hieroglyphics, to which a verbal delineation could 
by no possibility render justice : — allusion will be made to these, 
however, whenever they become important in shedding any light 
upon the history of their authors, and it will be seen that some 
of them are valuable evidences, in the solution of various inter- 
esting questions involved in the present investigation. Before 
passing to a view of the other ancient American monuments, 
it may be useful to inquire, what conclusions may be drawn from 
those just examined. 

Their Antiquity. Though all of these ruins are at this 
time deserted, it is by no means just to suppose that they are 
the relics of a people now beeome extinct. When this country 
was invaded by the Spanish conquerors, as has already been 
observed, it was, like Peru, occupied by a polished and culti- 
vated race. Many of its cities were then large and flourishing, 
and inhabited by a numerous population. Their magnificent 
palaces were still the residences of princes, and the temples still 
devoted to their original sacred uses. The arts were in a high 
state of advancement — science was cultivated — religion well 



120 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

established, and powerful governments in firm and substantial 
existence. It may accordingly be maintained, beyond the fear 
of contradiction, that some of these structures, or in any event, 
similar ones, were erected by the ancestors of the present In- 
dian tribes occupying that region. But as might be naturally 
inferred, and as is clearly proved by traditional and other testi- 
mony, these nations had not escaped the ordinary lot of human 
affairs, but had been subjected to all the consequences of inva- 
sions, wars, and revolutions, through the long period which had 
elapsed since their first settlement here, to the time of the dis- 
covery ; and consequently, as we must assign different dates to 
the origin of these cities respectively, it is probable, and in 
some cases almost certain, that many of them were already de- 
serted and left to decay when the Spaniards first arrived, while 
others were still inhabited. We are informed that when Cor- 
tez entered Mexico, the great Teocalli of that city had been but 
recently erected — and we are also told that it was built after 
the model of the pyramids, constructed by the Toltecs — a peo- 
ple to whom were ascribed, as was the custom in the absence 
of any definite testimony, all such edifices as were manifestly 
of great antiquity. The pyramids of Teotihuacan and Cholula 
were said to be of Toltecan origin — and the latter is associated 
with some of the oldest Mexican religious traditions. These 
pyramids then were the models for subsequent imitation ; but 
by common consent it is acknowledged, that the era of the ar- 
rival of the Toltecs in Mexico, as pointed out by the Mexican 
hieroglyphic manuscripts, was as far back as the seventh cen- 
tury. We have therefore the testimony of the Mexicans them- 
selves, that some of those edifices proceeded from a nation who 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



121 



had occupied that country, before the Aztec tribes, at a very early 
period, — and it will be seen hereafter, from other evidences, 
that their antiquity may be carried back still further. 

2. Their general resemblance. It is impossible to survey the 
remains of the monuments of these ancient nations, without per- 
ceiving, however much they may vary in minor details, that 
they proceeded from branches of the same great race ; and for 
this reason all these ruins have been embraced in one general 
view, without distinction of authorship. A strict and particular 
analogy it would be unphilosophical to expect ; for, notwith- 
standing the common origin of their authors, they had been 
separated, probably for many ages, into distinct societies and 
governments ; but yet, from Zacatecas in the north, to Guate- 
mala and Yucatan in the south and east, we can trace certain 
leading and marked characteristics in the productions of the 
arts, which tend to give them a general similitude in style and 
appearance. 

One of the most common indications of this uniformity, is 
the presence of enormous pyramids ; and when these are ab- 
sent, or are not to be discerned in the form of perfect pyramids, 
the same species of structure may be observed in immense 
pyramidal terraces, which served as the bases of more finished 
and elaborate buildings, — and this too at widely separated 
points, for the edifices at Zacatecas bear a striking similarity to 
those situated at the south of Mexico. Large quadrangles and 
courts surrounded by buildings — walls covered with cement and 
paintings — the employment of the Cyclopean arch — extensive 
aqueducts, broad and paved roads or causeways — the style of 
sculpture — the peculiar form of the figures in the religious or 
mythological representations, common even to the Mexican 

16 



122 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



manuscripts — the evidences of similar astronomical systems, and 
the use of the same system of hieroglyphics, all indicate a 
decided analogy in the arts, customs and institutions of these 
nations. This topic, however, will receive more deliberate at- 
tention hereafter ; and in the mean time let us proceed to the 
examination of the aboriginal monuments in South America. 




AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



123 



CHAPTER VI. 

ANTIQUITIES IN SOUTH AMERICA. 

^ South America, at the discovery, presented in the charac- 
ter and condition of its inhabitants, an appearance very similar 
to that exhibited in the northern continent. Over the greater 
portion, were scattered numerous families of the Red race, ele- 
vated in no respect above a state of barbarism, though still 
preserving some feeble traces of a lost civilization, in their cus- 
toms and traditions. All these tribes appeared to be of the 
same stock, and to be characterized by the same physical and 
social peculiarities as the North American Indians. In the 
remaining part, there were several nations which were justly 
entitled to be considered, at least, as semi-civilized ; and among 
these the Peruvians were pre-eminent. Under the guidance of 
their enterprising sovereigns, in a career of conquest steadfastly 
pursued for more than four hundred years, they had subjugated, 
and retained under their permanent dominion, neighboring 
tribes and kingdoms, until their empire comprehended northern 
Chile on the south, and the kingdom of Quito on the north, 
and extended from the Pacific on the west, to the easterly Cor- 
dilleras of the Andes.* Civilization, however, was not confined 
within these limits: Chile, into which country the restless and 

* Garcillasso de la Vega, vol. p. 16. Humboldt's Personal Nar- 
rative, vol. v. pp. 85, 86. Humboldt's Res., vol. i. p. 177. Yupanqui, 
the tenth Inca, was compelled to desist from a further prosecution of 



124 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

ambitious Incas had penetrated with their armies, and the 
northern portion of which they appear to have conquered, was 
occupied by various tribes far advanced above the savage 
state j and to the north and north-east of the kingdom of Quito, 
there were nations, whose attainments in the arts were second 
only to those of the Peruvians. Of the history of these civ- 
ilized races we have no knowledge, save such as may be gath- 
ered from their traditions, or from the Peruvian chronicles, — 
and the latter are of too suspicious a character for implicit reli- 
ance, particularly when they relate to the customs, institutions 
and condition of those tribes which they conquered, previous to 
their subjugation. But the ancient remains still visible through- 
out this territory, after the lapse of so many centuries, afford 
data for comparison with the monuments of other aboriginal 
nations, and for important conclusions as to the origin and the 
migrations of their authors. 

Mounds. Earthen mounds are found in Colombia, Peru 
and Chile, similar to those of North America, and like them, 
containing the bones of the dead, besides articles which dis- 
close to us many proofs of the degree of civilization attained 
by their builders. The plains of Varinas, about north Latitude 
7°, exhibit some of these monuments, consisting of artificial 
conical hills, which are found between Mijagual, and the Cano 
de la Hacha. 

Over the greater part of the country, formerly comprised 
under the government of the Incas, tumuli are of frequent oc- 

the conquest of Chile, by the valorous resistance of the Purumanco 
Indians, after having successfully carried his arms as far as the river 
Mauli. in lat. S. 34° 30'. Ulloa's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 266. Molina's 
History of Chili, vol. ii. p. 10. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



125 



currence ; they are called Huacas, by the natives, and being 
sepulchres, have also been made the depositories, according to 
the aboriginal custom,, of much of the riches and treasure of the 
deceased. Some of them contain galleries, built of stone or 
brick, and communicating with each other.* The method of 
forming these mounds appears to have consisted in depositing 
the body of the dead, without interment, in the place where it 
was to rest, surrounding it with a tomb of stones and bricks, 
and then throwing earth upon it until the Guaca had attained 
the desired elevation.f Their usual height is about from fifty 
to sixty feet, their length from one hundred and twenty to one 
hundred and fifty feet, and their breadth scmewhat less, though 
there are some much larger; their form is generally oblong. 
One, about a mile and a half south of Lima, which contained 
some human skulls, is nearly two hundred feet high.J Ulloa 
observes, that " the remarkable difference in the magnitude of 
these monuments seems to indicate that the Huacas were al- 
ways suitable to the character, dignity, or riches of the person 
interred." 

A few of these structures require, for the purposes of this 
investigation, a specific description. The Paneqillo of Callo, a 
few leagues to the south-west of Quito, is a hill composed, of 
volcanic stone, supposed by some§ to be an artificial structure 
or tumulus, while the more reasonable opinion is, that it is a 
natural elevation, to which the natives have given a more reg- 
ular form.|| Its shape is conical, and its height about two hun- 

* Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 102. 

t Molina, vol. ii. p. 81. Ulloa, vol. i. p. 492. 

J Morton's Crania Americana, p. 226. § Ulloa, and the Natives. 

U Humboldt's Researches, vol. ii. pp. 3, 4. 



126 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



dred and sixty feet, an altitude not much exceeding that of the 
mounds at Mansiche.* 

Near Santa, in Peru, is a mound in which were found vessels 
of baked clay, " of fine workmanship and ingenious construc- 
tion," and a human body interred in a sitting posture.^ The 
Huacas at Lambayeque are about thirty feet high, one hundred 
and sixty feet square, and of a pyramidal shape, and in the in- 
terior of one of them is a wall made of adobes of different sizes.! 

In Chile w*e sometimes find tumuli composed of stones. Upon 
opening one of these, on the mountains of Arauco, an urn of 
extraordinary size was discovered at the bottom. § 

The most curious and interesting structure of this character, 
interesting from its similarity to those terraced pyramids of the 
United States and Mexico, which have been described, existed in 
that locality which appears to have been the centre of South Ame- 
rican civilization. To the east of Lake Titicaca, in the province 
of Callao, and upon the elevated plain of Tiahuanaco, are the 
remains of the most ancient edifices of the southern continent. 
Here, at the time of the conquest of this territory by Mayta 
Capac, the fourth Inca, was the city of Tiahuanaco, remarkable 
for its great and magnificent edifices. The most striking of 
these, says Garcillasso de la Vega, was a hill or mound erected 
by the hand of man, and of almost incredible height. The In- 
dians, remarks this author, who seem to have wished to imitate 
nature in this structure, had" placed for its foundation immense 

* Ulloa says that its height is from one hundred and fifty to one 
hundred and eighty feet, vol. i. p. 500. 
f Morton's Crania, p. 225. 

% Ruschenberger's Three Years in the Pacific, p. 400. 
§ Molina's Hist. Chile, vol. i. p. 21. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



127 



masses of stone cemented together, which were surmounted by 
prodigious terraces raised one above another ; but the design 
of this marvellous building is unknown.* 

It appears most probable, that the bodies of deceased chief- 
tains, and other persons of consequence, were buried in the 
mounds or huacas, and that those of ordinary individuals were 
deposited in common graves. Many of these bodies appear to 
have undergone the process of embalming, as was the case, 
according to Garcillasso de la Vega, with the remains of the 
Incas ; others, on the contrary, have been buried without any 
artificial means used for their preservation, and yet, in conse- 
quence of the antiseptic qualities of the soil and climate, they 
present, externally, the appearance of mummies regularly em- 
balmed. At Callao, M. Poepig observes, " such is the extreme 
aridity of the soil, that, after the lapse of three centuries, we 
still find the mummies of the ancient Peruvians in a state of 
perfect preservation. They were interred in a sitting posture," j 
Mr. Stevenson also remarks, that the bodies found in the huacas, 
owing to the nitrous qualities of the earth, are well preserved.! 

About a mile from the town of Arica§ is an extensive ceme- 
tery, situated upon the side of a hill. The graves are indicated 
by hillocks of upturned sand, and human bones with the dry 
flesh still adhering, scattered over the surface. They may be 
discovered by the hollow sound, consequent upon stamping on 
the ground where they are. " The surface is covered over with 
sand, an inch or two deep ; which being removed discovers a 
stratum of salt, three or four inches in thickness, that spreads 

* Garcillasso de la Vega. vol. i. pp. 126, 128. 

t Travels cited in F. Q. Rev. Am. Edit. vol. 3. p. 17. 

I Vol. i. p. 415. § Frezier, pp. 172, 177. 



128 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



all over the hill. Immediately beneath are found the bodies in 
graves or holes, not more than three feet in depth. The body 
was placed in a squatting posture, with the knees drawn up, 
and the hands applied to the sides of the head. The whole 
was enveloped in a coarse but close fabric, with stripes of red, 
which has withstood wonderfully the destroying effects of ages, 
for these interments were made before the conquest, though at 
what period is not known. A cord was passed about the neck 
on the outside of the covering, and in one case we found de- 
posited upon the breast a Small bag containing five little sticks, 
about two and a half inches long, tied in a bundle." " Several 
of the bodies which we exhumed were in a perfect state of 
preservation. We found the brain dwindled to a crumbling 
mass, about the size of a hen's egg, perhaps adipocere. The 
cavity of the chest was nearly empty, and the heart contained 
what seemed to be indurated blood, which cut with as much 
facility as rich cheese. The muscles were like hard smoked 
beef."* The same author describes the graves at Santa, Santa 
Bay, south latitude eight degrees fifty-two minutes, as resembling 
those of Arica, but some of them apparently constructed with 
more care, being chambers about six feet deep and four in 
length, walled up on the sides with adobes.f 

Some of the present natives set apart the middle of their 
houses, for the interment of the dead.J Mr. Stevenson says, that 
at Supe he w T as convinced, that the Indians buried their dead in 
their houses where they had resided, as he had dug up many of 
them ;§ and it is probable that many places, now supposed to 

* Ruschenberger, pp. 340-1. 

t Ibid. p. 374. % Smyth's Narrative, pp. 182,216. § Stevenson, 
vol. i. p. 413. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



129 



have been only cemeteries, were the immediate sites of 
towns. 

Further to the north, the graves of the higher ranks appear to 
be similar to those just described. On the edge of the conical 
summit in which the lake of Guativita is situated, Captain 
Cochrane saw two of the sepulchres of the caciques, hewn in 
the sandstone, and remarked that the burial-places of the chiefs 
had always been chosen on commanding summits overlooking 
the plains, and that they were generally interred singly; whereas 
the lower class were buried in large caverns formed for that 
purpose, some hundreds of feet below.* He thus describes one 
of these tombs opened by him : " The spot was indicated by a 
small hollow appearance in the ground. After removing about 
a foot of earth and turf, we came to an amazingly large stone, 
about twelve feet long> eight wide, and nine inches thick — it was 
a kind of sandstone ; this we were obliged to break, and with 
great difficulty removed, when in two pieces. It had rested on 

* Cochrane's Travels, vol. ii. p. 253, etc. 

The cave of Ataruipe, on the eastern bank of the Orinoco, has 
been the sepulchre of some extinct tribe. Six hundred skeletons 
were found in it, well preserved, and regularly arranged in baskets. 
The bodies had been doubled or bent together. The bones were 
entire, and some of them had been whitened in the sun, some dyed 
red with anoto, and others varnished, like mummies, with odoriferous 
resins. Earthen vases, half baked, were placed by the sides of the 
baskets, and also contained bones ; some of them were three feet 
high, and five and a half long. They were oval in shape, of a green- 
ish gray color, the handles modelled in the form of crocodiles and 
serpents, and their bodies ornamented with meanders and grecques 
To the north of the Cataracts of the Orinoco are other caverns filled 
with human bones. — Humboldt' ] s Pers. Nar., vol. v. pp. 517, 627. 

17 



130 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



a shelf p : ece all round ; the grave was formed in sandstone. 
We at first came to earth, and then to finely variegated sand, 
rammed down so hard as to appear almost an integral part of 
the sandstone, but manifestly different, as it crumbled to fine 
dust when once broken out, whereas the natural strata adhere 
firmly together. After digging down for about eight feet, we 
came to earthenware of a rough description and rudely painted, 
some of which had been used for water, — others for cooking 
utensils, from the evident marks of fire on them ; the whole 
contained nothing but sand. At about fourteen feet depth we 
met with some human bones — the thigh and arm pieces — but 
no skull or teeth ; and after continuing our labor to the depth 
of thirty feet, we reached the original native strata." 

There was yet another kind of tomb used by the ancient 
Indians, which is alluded to by Frezier. " There is much dif- 
ference," he says, " between these voluntary tombs and those 
they erected for men of note. The latter are above the ground, 
built with unburnt bricks, and round like little pigeon-houses, 
five or six feet in diameter, and twelve or fourteen in height, 
arched like the top of an oven — in which the dead were placed 
sitting, and then they were walled up."'* Numerous sepulchres 
of this character, but composed of stone, have been observed 
between Andamarca and Tacua. They were of an oblong form 
and from ten to fifteen feet high ; and they appear, for some 
distance, in every direction as far as the eye can reach.f 
"On an immense plain," says Mr. Temple, " bounded on my 
left by the Cordilleras, I passed a row of ancient mud- built 
structures, which at a distance had the appearance of Martello 

* Frezier, pp. 177, 178. 

| Andrews' Travels in South America, vol. ii. p. 147. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



131 



towers. They are said to have been the sepulchres of Indian 
chiefs before the conquest ; the walls of some of them were 
nearly perfect, which may convey an idea of the durability of 
the adobes — a sun-dried compost of mud and strong grass — 
with which they are constructed ; having stood for centuries, 
without any symptoms of decay from the injuries of time or 
weather. The only aperture in the walls is a very small doorway, 
made low, in order, it is recorded, that the abode might never? 
be entered but in the posture of humility and veneration."* 

Upon opening the mounds and graves, they are found to 
contain a great variety of implements and other articles, of 
gold, copper, stone and earth, — gold utensils, looking-glasses of 
stone, and human skeletons. Some of the earthenware vessels 
exhumed from them are exceedingly curious. One kind is 
composed of two hollow spheres, each about three inches in 
diameter — connected by a small tube placed in the centre, and 
by a. hollow arched handle above, having a hole on the upper 
side. " If water be poured into this hole," says Mr. Steven- 
son, "until the jar is about half full, and the jar be then 
inclined, first to one side and then to the other, a whistling 
noise is produced. Sometimes a figure of a man stands on 
each jar, and the water is poured down an opening in its head, 
and by the same means the noise is occasioned. I saw one of 
these at the Carmelite nunnery at Quito, having two Indians 
upon it, carrying a corpse on their shoulders, laid on a hollow 
bier resembling a butcher's tray ; when the jar was inclined 
backwards and forwards, a plaintive cry was heard, resembling 
that made by the Indians at a funeral. The jars and other 



* Temple's Travels in Pern, vol. ii. p. 43. 



132 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



utensils were of good clay, and well baked; which, with the 
ingenious construction just alluded to, proves that the Indians 
were acquainted with the art of pottery."* Ullba describes 
the drinking-vessels as being generally constructed from a fine 
black or red earth, usually of a round shape, with a handle in 
the middle, the mouth on one side, and on the other the head 
of an Indian, with the features naturally expressed. Besides 
these, there were many larger vessels.f 

The axes disinterred from the huacas differ little in shape 
from ours, and are composed, some of copperj and some of the 
gallinazo stone : spear-heads of the latter substance are also 
met with, and heads of the maize, carved in stone with much 
delicacy and beauty. From the tombs at Manta and Acatames 
have been obtained emeralds cut into various shapes, with ac- 

* Stevenson, vol. i. p. 413. Frezier, 274. 
f Ulloa, vol. i. pp. 495, 496. 

The art of pottery is still practised by the natives of Peru and 
Chile. " I have seen some jars from Melipilla and Penco, which, for 
shape and workmanship, might pass for Etruscan. They are some- 
times sold for as high prices as fifty dollars, and are used for holding 
water. They are ornamented with streaks, and various patterns in 
white and red clay where the ground is black, and where it is red or 
brown, with black and white. Some of the red jars have these orna- 
ments of a shining substance, that looks like gold dust, which is, I 
believe, clay having pyrites of iron; and many have grotesque heads, 
with imitations of human arms for handles, and ornaments indented 
on them. But excepting in the forming of the heads and arms, I do 
not recollect any Chileno vase with raised decorations." " On the 
Peruvian vases procured from the tombs, there are many and various 
patterns in relief, but I have not seen any modern Peruvian pottery." 
— Graham's Chile, p. 142. See also Ulloa, vol. i. p. 324. 

| Molina, vol. ii. p. 21, 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



133 



curate precision — some being spherical, others cylindrical or 
conical, and most of them perforated diametrically or otherwise. 

Among the gold relics are nose-jewels, ear-pendants, col- 
lars, bracelets and idols. The latter have a construction pecu- 
liar to the Peruvian workmanship. They are of full length, of 
one piece, hollow within, extremely thin, and there are no 
vestiges of soldering. Dr. Meyen, who examined some of 
these articles in the museum at Lima, says, " The collection of 
Peruvian idols of gold and copper is very remarkable." " These 
figures are very curious, for they have not been cast in the 
mould, but formed with the hammer."* 

From one of the huacas of Chimu a relic, of a similar descrip- 
tion, was exhumed. Ruschenberger describes it as " a fore-arm 
and hand of gold." " It was about six inches long, hollow, 
without any seam, and had three holes on one side, and a single 
one opposite, like those in the joint of a flageolet, and it was 
supposed to have been used as a musical instrument."! 

The mirrors alluded to as discovered in these cemeteries are 
of two kinds — one composed of the Inca stone, a soft opaque 
mineral, and the other of the gallinazo stone (obsidian), which 
is hard, brittle and black. They are generally circular in their 

* Meyen's Voyage. 

f Ruschenberger, p. 382. 

As might be anticipated from the general use of some of the 
metals, particularly gold and silver, many of the mines in Peru pre- 
sent undoubted signs of having been extensively worked in the times 
of the Incas. — Ulloa, vol. i. pp. 27, 486; vol. ii. pp. 153, 164. An 
idea of the vast amount of treasure contained in some of the mounds, 
may be obtained from the fact, that in the year 1576, a Spaniard 
opened a huaca, in which he found so large a quantity of gold, that 



134 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



shape, from three inches to a foot and a half in diameter, highly 
polished, and some are plane, some concave, and others convex* 
In the mounds of Chile, besides earthenware, vases of marble 
have been found, some of them cut and polished with the 
greatest perfection ; and also axes of basalt, and occasionally 
edged tools of hardened copper.f 

There are also found in the kuacas and graves, ostrich 
feathers from the plains of Buenos Ayres ; spades, lances, clubs 
and other implements of palm wood ; marine shells ; dresses of 
woollen and cotton cloths ; small images appareled in garments 
similar to those now worn by the Indians ; small pieces of gold 
in the mouths of the dead ; slips of silver ; rings and small cups 
of gold : quantities of maize ; seeds of the gourd ; beds or strata 
of banana leaves ; the bean and quinua deposited in vases ; and 
mills used to grind the maize.J These mills consist of a large 
stone somewhat hollowed in the middle, and a handle, curved 
on one side, which was used by pressing the ends alternately 
upon the large stone.§ Similar articles are found in the mines 
worked by the ancient Indians, where they were probably era- 

the royal fifth paid into the treasury of Truxillo, amounted to 9362 oz. 
the value of the whole being upwards of one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand pounds sterling. — Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 121. It is stated in the 
" Diario de Lima" for 1791, that from the year 1550 to 1590, the 
king's fifth amounted to nearly one hundredthous and Castellanos of 
gold, worth about two hundred thousand dollars. — Ruschenberger's 
Three Years in the Pacific, p. 400. 

* Ulloa, vol. i. p. 495. f Molina, vol. i. p. 21. 

% Stevenson, vol. i. pp. 414, 415, 166, 332, 366, 46. 

§ The mills used in Chile for grinding maize resemble these. — 
Frezier's Voyage, p. 67. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



135 



ployed in pulverizing the ores.* Chica, an intoxicating beve- 
rage prepared from the maize, is also found in the huacas, 
preserved in jars. The cotton cloths are often of a very fine 
texture, ornamented with curious figures interwoven, and dyed 
with indigo and other colors.f 

Agriculture and Aqueducts. The Peruvians and some of 
the neighboring nations carried the cultivation of the soil to a 
higher stage of perfection, than any of the American nations. 
They were acquainted with the use of manures, and surrounded 
their fields with fences, or walls of clay, sometimes faced with 
stone, the vestiges of which are still visible. J We still perceive 
the indications of an agricultural population, in the remains of 
the granaries, in which the maize was collected and stored. 
These repositories are somewhat similar to a cistern, and are 
usually walled around, either with roughly hewn stones or with 
adobes. Their depth beneath the surface of the earth is com- 
monly about four feet, and the grain still found in them is gen- 
erally entire and sound when taken out.§ 

In consequence of the narrow extent of land intervening 
between the mountains and the sea, the rivers in this region are 
usually of small size, and the soil, being arid and sandy, needs 
the aid of artificial irrigation. Near Pisco, in a barren country, 
are ancient pits or excavations, made in search of humidity, 
wherein they planted the maize.|| To such an extent did they 
carry their ingenious efforts, that the sides of the steepest moun- 

* -Stevenson, vol. i. p. 369. 

t Ibid. vol. i. p. 372. Ibid. vol. i. pp. 387, 415 ; vol. ii. p. 7. 
% Molina, vol. ii. pp. 14, 19. 

§ Stevenson, vol. ii. pp. 138, 174 ; vol. i. pp. 166, 374. Garcillasso 
de la Vega, vol. ii. p. 177. || Stevenson, vol. i. p. 359 ; vol. ii. p. 6. 



\ 



136 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



tains were converted into productive fields, by being encircled 
with terraces, supported by stone walls, and watered by canals.* 
" Upon the sides of some of the mountains," observes Mr. Tem- 
ple, " were the remains of walls built in regular stages round 
them, from their base to their summits, forming terraces on 
which, or between which, the Indians, in days of yore, cultivated 
their crops."f Frezier says the Indians were very industrious 
in conveying the waters of the rivers through their fields and to 
their dwellings, and that there were still to be seen in many 
places, aqueducts formed of earth and stone, and carried along the 
sides of hills with great labor and ingenuity.! Humboldt saw 
the remains of walls in the maritime part of Peru, along which 
water had been conducted for a space of from three to four 
miles, from the foot of the Cordilleras to the coast. § " I have 
had various opportunities," says a more recent traveller, " of 
closely examining one of these canals, which is formed at the 
source of the river Sana, on the right bank, and extends along 
a distance of fifteen leagues, without reckoning sinuosities, and 
which consequently supplied a vast population; particularly 
one city, whose ruins still remain in the vicinity of a farm now 
called Cojal."|| These aqueducts were often of great magni- 
tude, executed with much skill, patience and ingenuity, and 
were boldly carried along the most precipitous mountains, fre- 
quently to the distance of fifteen or twenty leagues.il Many of 

* Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 257. Vega, vol. i. p. 219. 
t Temple's Travels in Peru, vol. ii. p. 39. 1 Frezier, p. 262. 
§ Humboldt's Political Essay, vol. ii. p. 31. 
)| Vide Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. xix. p. 254. 
% Ulloa, vol. ii. p. 28. Robertson's Hist. Am., p. 238. Vega, 
vol. i. p. 219. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



137 



them consisted of two conduits, a short distance apart; the 
larger of these was for general use ; the other and smaller, to 
supply the inhabitants and water the fields, while the first was 
cleansing :* a circumstance in which they bear a striking resem- 
blance to those of Mexico. They also conveyed water to the 
most distant places by subterranean conduits : Garcillasso de- 
scribes five fountains that existed in the Temple of the Sun at 
Cuzco, and which were used for sacred purposes, one of which 
he saw flowing, — the others having become dry. It is probably 
one of these fountains which now supplies the Hospital de JVa- 
turales ; its pipes are buried under the earth and cannot be 
traced, and, as in the time of the Peruvian historian, its source 
is unknown-! At Lanasca there is also a fountain, supplied 
through subterranean conduits, the source of which has never 
been traced.! Many of these great works became useless after 
the conquest, from their very magnificence, for their pipes, being 
made of gold,§ excited the cupidity of the avaricious Spaniards ; 
and others were destroyed from mere wantonness. By their ruin, 
however, an idea may be gathered, of the extent and character 
of the natural obstacles against which the natives had struggled 
in their attempts to till the soil ; for some districts, which once 
were rich, fertile and productive, are now sandy and arid wastes, 
supporting but a scanty population. 

This sketch of the public works constructed for the encour- 
agement of agriculture may be concluded by offering two 
instances, one in Peru and the other in Chile, which, in design 
and execution, are worthy of modern art. Near Caxamarca 
is a small lake hemmed in by mountains, which is connected 

* For. Q,. Rev., vol. xix. p. 254. f Garcillasso, vol. i. p. 173. 
% Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 257. § Ibid. 

18 



138 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



with a river running on the opposite side of the ridge, by an 
excavation or tunnel cut through the mountain ; so that the 
lake, when rising above its proper level, is prevented from flood- 
ing the adjacent lands.* The Salta de Agua, in the vicinity of 
Santiago, is formed by an artificial aqueduct, cut for the purpose 
of drawing off a portion of the waters of the river Mapocho, to 
irrigate the land of the lower plain. For the accomplishment 
of this object, "they cut channels through the granite rock from 
the Mapocho to the edge of the precipice, and made use of the 
natural fall of the ground, to throw a considerable stream from 
the river into the vale below. This is divided into numerous 
channels, as is required, and the land so watered is some of the 
most productive in the neighborhood of the city."f 
\\ Roads. Few of the monuments of the American nations 
have been viewed with more curiosity and interest, than those 
great public roads, which, ages ago, when these signs of 
civilization were yet wanting in the greater part of Europe, 
were constructed with such skill and science, such perseverance 
and boldness, as to rank them with the proudest remains, of 
that character, on the soil of the old world. 7 These works were 
of great extent, enormous masses of stone were usually quarried 
and employed in their formation,! and they were prosecuted 
with such indefatigable patience and labor, as to triumph over 
the most formidable natural obstacles. In South America they 
were not, however, confined to Peru, but their vestiges are still 
to be discovered, in remote regions, whither the power of the 
Incas never extended. They form one of the characteristic 



* Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 174. 

f Graham's Chile, pp. 212, 213, 214. Molina, vol. ii. p. 14. 
X Humboldt's Res., vol. i. p. 260. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



139 



signs of all American civilization, and are far from owing their 
origin to the enterprise and ingenuity of the Peruvian sovereigns 
alone, — monarchs who were nevertheless ready to adopt, imi- 
tate, and reproduce upon an enlarged scale, the inventions they 
found existing, when they established their extensive empire. 

The rank the Peruvian roads occupy, as finished structures, 
w T hen compared with the ancient roads of Europe, is clearly 
shown by the testimony of one who had examined both. "We 
were surprised," says Humboldt, "to find at this place (As- 
suay), and at heights which greatly surpass the top of the Peak 
of Teneriffe, the magnificent remains of a road constructed by 
the Incas of Peru. This causeway, lined with freestone, may 
be compared to the finest Roman roads I have seen, in Italy, 
France or Spain. It is perfectly straight, and keeps the same 
direction for six or eight thousand metres. We observed the 
continuation of this road near Caxamarca, one hundred and 
twenty leagues to the south of Assuay, and it is believed in the 
country that it led as far as the city of Cuzco,"* This was 
one of the celebrated roads, said to have been built by the Incas 
from Cuzco to Quito, a distance of five hundred leagues, and 
whereon, we are told, news could be communicated by the 
chasqui, or courier, from one of those cities to the other, in the 
space of six days.f For the accommodation of these couriers, 
houses were erected at short distances ; and as soon as a message 
or intelligence was received, it was communicated from the one 

* Humboldt's Res., vol. i. p. 241. Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 65. 

t Vega, vol. i. p. 291. Adair gives an instance of a Chickasaw 
Indian, who ran three hundred miles, in a day and a half and two 
nights.— Hist. Indians, p. 396. 



140 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



who had just arrived to another, who hastened on rapidly to the 
next post. 

One of these great roads passed through the plains near 
the sea, and the other over the mountains in the interior. Au- 
gustin de Carate says, that for the construction of the road over 
the mountains, they were compelled to cut away rocks, and to 
fill up chasms, often from ninety to one hundred and twenty feet 
deep, and that when it was first made, it was so plain and level, 
that a carriage might easily pass over it ; and of the other, 
which pursued a less difficult route, that it was forty feet wide, 
and as it was carried through valleys, in order to avoid the 
trouble of rising and descending, it was constructed upon a high 
embankment of earth.* Pedro de Cieca de Leon, one of the 
conquerors, speaks also of the former, as a magnificent and 
extraordinary work, both with respect to the buildings and 
magazines which were constructed along its borders, and to 
the labor which must have been employed in its erection ;j and 
other authors describe it in still more glowing terms. 

It has been intimated, that the remains of these ancient 
roads in South America, are not confined to Peru. The most 
northerly ruins of this kind, yet discovered, are to be seen upon 
the plains of Varinas about N. Lat. 7°. A fine road is to be 
perceived, between Varinas and Canagua ; it is a causeway of 
earth fifteen feet high, and about fifteen miles in length, and 

* The causeway built by Shah Abbas the Great, from Keskar to 
Astrabad, extended three hundred English miles, was twenty yards 
broad, and was raised in the middle, with ditches on each side. — 
Hanway's Travels. 

t Vega, vol. i. pp. 492. 493. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



141 



crosses a level, subject to inundation.* Captain Cochrane ob- 
served the remains of an ancient road in Colombia,! near the 
lake of Guativita ; and at the extreme of civilization on the 
south, we also meet with the vestiges of another. The Jesuit 
Imonsff, in a letter written A. D. 1716, and cited by Don Luis 
de La Cruz in the account of his expedition across the Pampas, 
speaks of a road on the south-eastern frontier of Chile " which 
passes to the other side of the Cordilleras, so much esteemed by 
the Indians for its excellence, and constructed by the ancient 
inhabitants.";}; 

Baths and religious ablutions. At Cuzco are the remains 
of baths; and near Diezmo we find similar evidences of the hab- 
its of ablution of the ancient sovereigns. This bath is formed 
from a spring of good water, surrounded by a few stones, put 
together in the form of a chair, and at the bottom there is a 
hole, shaped something like a foot.§ 

Caxamarca was once distinguished for its royal baths, 
which also exist to this day. Two stone buildings having con- 
venient rooms, each contain in their interior, an extensive bath- 
ing place ; one of these baths is five yards square, and two 
deep. The sides and bottom are formed of roughly hewn 
stone, and there are steps leading down to the bath from doors, 
which open into the adjoining apartments.|| Similar baths are 
found near the village of Banos, in Huamalies.1T 

* Humboldt's Personal Narrative. Stevenson's Twenty Years 
in S. Am., vol. ii. p. 99. f Cochrane's Travels, vol. ii. p. 206. 
t El Mercurio Chileno, No. vii. p. 321. 
§ Smyth's Narrative, p. 33. 

|| Stevenson's Twenty Years in S. Am., vol. ii. p. 138. 
T[ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 100. Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 259. 



142 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



The lake of Titicaca was the most sacred spot in all Peru, 
and is mentioned in some of the most ancient religious tradi- 
tions. It was customary for the natives of all the provinces 
subdued by the Incas, to make annual pilgrimages to the Tem- 
ple of the Sun, which was built upon one of the islands of the 
lake, and to bring with them offerings of gold and silver and 
precious stones,* and there is reason to believe, to bathe in the 
holy waters. The island where, according to tradition, Manco 
Capac first received his divine commission, was formerly a 
mountain, and was afterwards levelled by the Incas. " Here 
the first Inca appeared, and here also was a magnificent temple 
of the sun, containing an immense collection of riches, which, 
to save from the rapacity of the Spaniards, the Indians are re- 
ported to have thrown into the lake."f 

The Lake of Guativita, in Colombia, situated in a wild and 
solitary spot on the ridge of the mountains of Zipaquira, is also 
supposed to have been held in great veneration by the ancient 
inhabitants, who repaired thither to perform their religious ab- 
lutions ; for which purpose there was a staircase descending 
to the water, the remains of which are still existing. Beneath 
its waters, as the tradition runs, are buried immense treasures, 
which the natives are said to have thrown into the lake, on the 
arrival of the Spaniards ; and a golden image has been recently 
recovered from it, which is thought to resemble the objects of 
Hindoo worship.} 

* Vega, vol. i. p. 176. f Ulloa, vol. ii. p. 166, etc. 

X Humboldt's Pers. Nar., vol. v. p. 814. Mod. Trav. Colom- 
bia, p. 333. The graves which have been opened in the vicinity 
of the lake, contain little else but earthenware, for which reason it 
has been conjectured that on the decease of an Indian, his riches were 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 143 

Ruins of cities, edifices and fortresses. The most decided 
uniformity in style and method of construction, is observable in 
all the buildings and monuments of the civilized nations of South 
America ; and the evidences are clear, that all the more finished 
structures were formed upon the same plan, and most of them 
copied after the same original model. The natives of Tiahu- 
anaco, remarks Garcillasso de la Vega,* — an author by no means 
inclined to disparage the subjects of his eulogy, the Incas, — say 
that all its buildings were constructed before the time of the 
Incas, who built the fortress of Cuzco in imitation of them. 
This report receives confirmation from the circumstance, that 
Tiahuanaco was adjacent to the sacred lake of Titicaca, where 
Manco Capac and Mama Oello, were said to have been placed 
by the Sun, their parent. When they founded Cuzco, the 
chief city of their new empire, it is natural to suppose, that its 
edifices were erected after the fashion of those of Tiahuanaco, 
and we are assured that the buildings of Cuzco became the 
models of those subsequently constructed by the Incas, through- 
out their dominions. 

Of the structures at Tiahuanaco only vague descriptions 
exist, but sufficient has been communicated to indicate their 
grandeur, and massiveness. Garcillasso de la Vega speaks of a 
long wall, " of which the stones were so large that it was 
impossible to comprehend how men had sufficient power to 

cast into the lake, as a tribute of respect to its sanctity, or in honor of 
the deity worshipped there. The Spaniards have endeavored, but 
unsuccessfully, to drain the lake ; from the soil on its banks, however, 
they have procured many valuable articles, sufficient to pay the 
government a quinta of one hundred and seventy thousand dollars. 
* Vega, vol. i. p. 127. 



144 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



transport them; for it is certain that there exist nowhere near 
this place, quarries nor rocks whence such large masses could 
have been taken : that there were also extraordinary buildings, 
some of which were remarkable for their great doorways or 
gates, cut out of an entire and single stone, and placed upon 
stones of an incredible size, some of which were thirty feet long, 
fifteen thick, and six high." The same author observes that 
these edifices appeared to have been left unfinished,* but there 
seems more reason to attribute their imperfect state to the ef- 
fects of time and decay. 

Pedro de Cieca, whom Garcillasso de la Vega seems to have 
followed, in his account of Tiahuanaco, confirms this statement. 
" Tiaguanico is not a very large town, but it is deserving of no- 
tice, on account of the great edifices which are still to be seen 
in it : near the principal of these, is an artificial hill raised on 
a groundwork of stone. Beyond this hill, are two stone idols 
resembling the human figure, and apparently formed by skilful 
artificers. They are of somewhat gigantic size, and appear 
clothed in long vestments differing from those now worn by the 
natives of these provinces, and their heads are also ornamented. 
Near these statues is an edifice, which on account of its anti- 
quity, and the absence of letters, leaves us in ignorance of the 
people who constructed it ; — and such indeed has been the 
lapse of time since its erection, that little remains but a well- 
built wall, which must have been there for ages, for the stones 
are very much worn and crumbled. In this place also there are 
stones so large and so overgrown, that our wonder is excited to 
comprehend how the power of man could have placed them 



* Vega, vol. i. p. 127. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



145 



where we see them.* Many of these stones are variously 
wrought, and some having the form of men must have been 
their idols. Near the wall are many caves and excavations 
under the earth ; but in another place more to the west, are 
other and greater monuments, consisting of large gateways and 
their hinges, platforms, and porches, each of a single stone." 
" What most surprised me, while engaged in examining and 
recording these things, was that the above enormous gateways 
were formed on other great masses of stone, some of which were 
thirty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and six feet thick. Nor can 
I conceive with what tools or instruments, those stones were 
hewn out, for it is obvious that before they were wrought and 
brought to perfection, they must have been vastly larger than 
we now see them. Before I proceed to a further account of 
Tiaguanico I must remark that this monument is the most an- 
cient in Peru, for it is supposed that some of these structures 
were built long before the dominion of the Incas, and I have 
heard the Indians affirm, that these sovereigns constructed their 
great buildings in Cuzco, after the plan of the walls of Tiagua- 
nico, and they add that the first Incas were accustomed to hold 
their court in this place." Diego d'Alcohaca, also cited by 

* In some of the quarries, it is said, there remain stones much 
larger, and some of them more or less finished, according to the state 
they were in, on the news of the Spanish invasion. Near Cuzco is a 
quarry of the Incas', where may be seen more than two thousand 
blocks of stone, some of great size and left in an unfinished state : 
and near Cascas, in Caxamarca, is a great block, thirteen yards in 
length, and about one in thickness, besides another in a rough condi- 
dition, ready to be worked, and similar in its dimensions to some of 
those at Tiahuanaco. — Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 261. 

19 



146 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



Vega, adds that the natives believed, that these buildings were 
dedicated to the Creator of the Universe.* 

Cuzco. The little that has been preserved of the ancient 
edifices at Cuzco, confirms the description of the style and size 
of the original buildings at Tiahuanaco, from which they 
are said to have been copied. Among these, we find the re- 
mains of a fortress upon a hill near the city, and also the ruins 
of the Temple of the Sun. Their walls, parts of which are still 
in perfect preservation, are built with stones of great magni- 
tude ; and though of a polyangular shape, of different dimen- 
sions, and laid without cement, they are fitted together with 
extreme nicety and precision. The stones seldom have less 
than from six to nine angles, and they are so closely and firmly 
joined, that the interstices almost escape detection-! Ulloa 
says, the design appears to have been to enclose the whole 
mountain with a prodigious wall, and that the interstices of the 
courses of stone were filled with smaller stones.J From the 
palaces of the Incas, and especially from the Temple of the 
Sun, there were subterranean passages, which led to the for- 
tress, through which the kings and priests could flee with their 
treasures and idols, in case of an invasion. These were cut 
into the solid rock, and with such skill and ingenuity, and so 

* Pedro de Cie9a Chronica del Peru, cap. 105, cited in Morton's 
Crania, p. 100; also Acosta's Hist, etc., 1. 6, c. 14. 

f The same peculiarity in the arrangement and joining of the 
stones, has been observed in the Peruvian dwellings. — Mercurio Pe- 
ruano, vol. v. p. 263. 

X Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 259. Ulloa, vol. ii. p. 132, etc. 
Mod. Trav. Peru, vol. ii. p. 291. The city of Cuzco was said to have 
been founded about the year 1043. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



147 



admirably contrived, that there were particular places, in which 
one man could defend the passage against a hundred. The 
method adopted for this purpose, consisted in excavating the 
rock, in a zig-zag manner, with sharp angles or projections, 
at which points the passage was contracted, so as to leave 
space but for one person to pass at a time. These labyrinths 
were still observable, at the close of the last century, and it is 
said, the whole city was found to be undermined with them :* 
they appear to have been used also at other places, and are 
considered, as one of the peculiarities usually attending most of 
the Peruvian fortresses. 

Cannar. In descending from the Paramo of Assuay towards 
the south, is the Inga-pilca, or the fortress of Cannar, crowning 
the summit of a hill. " This fortress," says Humboldt, " if we 
can so call a hill terminated by a platform, is much less 
remarkable for its height than its perfect preservation."! 
Placed upon two terraces, a wall built of large blocks of free- 
stone rises to the height of eighteen or twenty feet, supporting 
and enclosing a platform of earth. This platform forms a regu- 
lar oval, lying in the direction of the cardinal points, and its 
great axis is nearly one hundred and twenty-seven feet in 
length. " The interior of this oval is a flat piece of ground 
covered with rich vegetation, which increases the picturesque 
effect of the landscape. In the centre of the enclosure, is a 
house containing only two rooms, which are near seven metres 
in height. This house and the enclosure form part of a system 

* Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 262. 

f Humboldt's Researches, vol. ii. p. 195. Ibid. vol. i. pp. 242, 
247, etc., 258. Ulloa says this fortress is the " most entire, the 
largest and best built, in all the kingdom."— Ulloa, vol. i. p. 501. 



148 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



of walls and fortifications," " which are more than one hundred 
and fifty metres in length. The cut of the stones, the disposi- 
tion of the doors and niches, the perfect analogy between this 
edifice and those of Cuzco, leave no doubt respecting the origin 
of this military monument, which served as a lodging to the 
Incas, when those princes journeyed occasionally from Peru to 
the kingdom of Quito." The stones used in this building are 
not of great size, but they are beautifully cut into parallelopipe- 
dons, with perfect precision, the outer surface, however, being 
slightly convex, and cut slantingly towards the edge, so that 
the joints form small flutings. The door-posts are inclined ; in 
the interior are niches hollowed into the walls, and between 
them are cylindrical stones, with polished surfaces projecting 
from the wall. The greater part of the wall is apparently 
constructed without cement, but in some places may be observed 
a mortar, composed of a mixture of small stones and argillaceous 
marl.* 

Near Cannar are the rocks of Inti-Guaicu, and the Ynga- 
chungana.f The first is an image of the sun, upon a mass of 
sandstone, partly natural and partly sculptured, consisting of 
several concentric circular lines enclosing a space, in which 
eyes and a mouth have been engraven. " The foot of the rock 
is cut into steps, which lead to a seat hollowed out in the same 
stone, and so placed, that from the bottom of the hollow, the 
image of the sun may be seen." To the north of the ruins, upon 
the side of a hill, were the gardens attached to this fortress, and 

* According to Ulloa, a species of mortar of uncommon hardness, 
called Sangagua, was used by the ancient Indians, in their buildings. 
— Ulloa, vol. i. p. 268. 

t Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. pp. 247, 253. 



/ 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 149 

in them is the Ynga-chungana, or The Sport of the Inca, being 
a stone seat or sofa decorated with sculpture in arabesque, and 
placed so as to command a most delightful prospect. 

Callo. At Callo, about ten leagues to the south of Quito, 
is a building called " The Incas' House."* " This edifice forms 
a square, each side of which is thirty metres long. Four great 
outer doors are still distinguishable, and eight apartments, three 
of which are in good preservation. The walls are nearly five 
metres high and one thick. The doors, similar to those of the 
Egyptian temples; the niches, eighteen in number in each 
apartment, distributed with the greatest symmetry; the cylin- 
ders for the suspension of warlike weapons; the cut of the 
stones, the outer side of which is convex, and carved obliquely, 
all remind us of the edifice at Cannar." Ulloa says, the stones 
are hard as flint and almost black, w T ell cut, and joined so 
curiously as to be impenetrable at their joints to the point of a 
knife ; that no cement is visible, the courses are unequal, and 
that small and large stones are intermixed, but fitted closely to 
the inequalities of each other. Humboldt, however, asserts that 
the stones are cut into parallelopipedons and laid in regular 
courses. 

Caxamarca. Caxamarca was once noted for possessing a 
palace and baths. The remains of the palace, which are tri- 
fling, consist only of a part of a wall, the stones of which are 
irregular in their shape, but smoothly cut, and fitted closely 
together. At the distance of two leagues, is a monument called 
The Inga-Rirpo, or " Resting-Stone of the Inca. 5 ' It is placed 
within a circular enclosure, about eight yards in diameter, on 



* Hum. Res., vol. ii. pp. 5, 7. Ulloa, vol. i. p. 499. Stevenson, 
vol. ii. p. 342. t Ulloa, vol. i. p. 500. 



150 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

the ancient road running from Cuzco to Quito. It is a large 
block of freestone, eleven feet long, two feet eight inches high 
above the ground, and thirteen inches thick. It has two 
grooves cut across it, near to the centre, four inches deep and 
five inches wide. " The site of this restW-stone commands a 
most beautiful prospect of the valley of Caxamarca. The tra- 
dition of the Indians is, that the Inca used to be brought here, 
to enjoy the prospect, and that the two grooves in the stone 
were made, that the cross-ledges of the stone, on which he was 
carried, might rest secure in them."* 

Five leagues from Caxamarca, are the ruins of a city con- 
structed upon a singular plan. Many of the houses are yet 
entire ; they are all built of stone, and encircle a small moun- 
tain. In the lower tier or range of houses, the walls are of 
amazing thickness, and composed of stones, some of which are 
twelve feet long, and seven feet high — one stone forming the 
whole side of a room, with one or more large slabs laid across, 
for a roof. Some of the walls are constructed with two cas- 
ings of stone, and the interval is filled up with pebbles and a 
mortar of clay, the whole forming a mass almost equal to stone 
in hardness. " Above these houses another tier was built in 
the same manner, on the back of which are the entrances or 
doorways ; and a second row had their backs to the mountain. 
The roofs of the second tier in front had been covered with 
stone, and probably formed a promenade ; a second tier of 
rooms thus rested on the roofs of the first tier, which were on 
a level w T ith the second front tier. In this manner one double 
tier of dwelling houses was built above another, to the height 
of seven tiers." Thus, there were six circular streets, and 

* Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 164. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



151 



seven terraces of buildings, which were intersected by four 
roads conducting to the summit, in the direction of the cardinal 
points. On the top are extensive ruins of what appears to have 
been a palace, or fortress. The whole city consists of erections 
of stone, and not of excavations, — the doorways are narrower 
at the top than at the bottom, — the stones have been hewn into 
squares of irregular size, and are cemented together ; — there are 
no remains of sculpture save a few ornaments in arabesque ; 
and the mass of buildings is of sufficient extent, to have con- 
tained several thousand families.* 

In the Paramo of Chulucanas, is the ancient city of that 
name, between the Indian villages of Ayavaca and Guanca- 
bamba, on the ridge of the Cordilleras. It is situated on the 
slope of a hill, near a small river. The houses contain but one 
room each, the streets cut each other at right angles, and the 
hill is divided into six terraces, each platform of which is faced 
with hewn stone.f 

On the plain of Tacunga are the remains of a palace, built 
of hard black stones, with their outer surfaces convex and fluted, 
like those at Cannar and Callo. Of this edifice there still ex- 
ist a large court, and three extensive halls forming three sides 
of an enclosure. t 

About a league to the north of Diezmo, are the ruins of 
Tabo-inga, or Tambo-inca. The walls of most of the dwell- 
ings are standing, from the height of from two to eight feet ; 
and the houses appear to have been built of different sizes and 
shapes, some being circular, and others square. They are gen- 

* Stevenson, a t oL ii. pp. 169, 170, 174. 

t Humboldt's Researches, vol. ii. pp. 198, 200. 

I Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 283. 



152 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



erally separated from each other, and have all been constructed 
with large unhewn stones, the interstices being filled up with 
smaller ones, and the whole cemented together. About two 
hundred yards to the north-north-west are the ruins of a temple, 
of a quadrangular form, with a flight of a dozen steps on two 
sides. The walls are quite levelled : the whole seems to have 
been surrounded by a stone wall or barrier, which included a 
considerable portion of the plain.* 

In the following description, which is cited at length, as 
containing some valuable suggestions upon the subject of Pe- 
ruvian architecture, Mr. Poepig describes the ruins of Tambo- 
bamba, which are found a few leagues from Diezmo. " From 
the great extent of this scattered village," he says, " we may 
form some idea of its ancient consequence. Such of the houses 
as are still left, or of which we can trace the remains, lie scat- 
tered without any seeming regularity." " The detached build- 
ings are pretty equal in size, and are separated from each other 
by small intervals, which seem to indicate that each was sur- 
rounded by a court-yard. This very same style of building is 
still followed by the Indians of the Andes, and even the same 
mode of erecting the walls has continued unchanged ; if we 
except from the comparison the greater negligence of the Pe- 
ruvians of the present day. The walls are built in a circular 
form, are from thirty to forty paces in their outer circumference, 
and from six to ten feet in height." The materials consist of 
stones cemented together by a tough kind of earth, which has 
become exceedingly indurated. " The most remarkable fea- 
tures, in the architecture of these ruins, are the pointed or bell- 
shaped roofs, which are composed of smallers tones, embedded 

* Smyth's Narrative, pp. 33, 34. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 153 

in indurated clay. Ulloa says very decidedly that nothing is 
known of the manner in which the Peruvians roofed their 
houses, but that it was most probable they were covered with 
flat wooden roofs, as no trace of vaults or arches has been dis- 
covered amid the ruins, and every thing indicated that the key 
stone was altogether unknown in that age. The few remain- 
ing domes of the roofs of Tambo-bamba, are in the form of a 
bell, and from twelve to fifteen feet high. In the thatched 
roof of the modern Indians, we trace the exact imitation of 
these ancient buildings, and I was told that the use of cupolas 
for similar small Indian buildings is still very common in the 
neighborhood of Cuzco."* In corroboration of the views en- 
tertained by this author, it may be mentioned, that from the 
remains of some buildings in the islands of Capachica, it is as- 
serted that the Peruvians had made some approach to the 
knowledge of the arch : but these ruins are not sufficiently de- 
scribed, to afford a solution of this interesting question.f 

Near the village of Supe, in the valley of Huaura, are the 
ruins of an ancient town, built upon the side of a rocky eleva- 
tion. Galleries have been cut into the rock, for the purpose of 
making room for their small houses, many remains of which are 
visible, and also of small parapets of stone raised above them, 
so that the hill has the appearance of a fortified place. At a 
short distance, are the ruins of another town on an elevated 
plain.J 

The Peruvians and neighboring nations also constructed 

* Poepig's Travels, as cited above, 
t Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 262. 
X Stevenson, vol. i. p. 412. 

20 



154 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



edifices of unburnt brick.* In the vicinity of Palca, on the road 
from Arica to the lake of Puno or Titicaca, Dr. Meyen observed 
some ancient buildings of this character. " The square towers, 
which occur in this neighborhood, are particularly curious. 
They are about twenty feet high, eight broad, and built entirely 
of unburnt brick. Bands of metal are occasionally inserted, 
to give them greater firmness.f One of these obelisks was 
damaged at its base, which enabled us to discover, that it was 
not hollow, but quite filled up. On questioning the country 
people about these buildings, they merely said, " They are of 
the times of the Kings," that is, of " the Incas." In the imme- 
diate vicinity of Palca, we counted seven of these obelisks, three 
of which stand almost close together. As they have not been 
painted, the natural color of the clay gives them a very sombre 
and dreary appearance. We met with them also in some other 
places, in the vicinity of Puno for instance."! 

Near Lurin, a bathing place in the vicinity of Lima, are the 
ruins of the city of Pachacamac. They lie in a fertile valley, 
and are supposed to be the relics of a place of great opulence, 
which was in a flourishing condition when first visited by Fran- 
cisco Pizarro, in 1533, and was then distinguished for a re- 
markable temple dedicated to the worship of Pachacamac. Mr. 

* Condamine's Memoirs. Molina, vol. ii. p. 20. 

t The stones of some of the edifices at Cuzco, are said to have 
"been fastened or clamped together by bands of silver and gold ; and 
it was asserted in 1792, that to that day, there might yet be seen, in 
the walls of the Portal of the Convent of St. Domingo at that place, 
the remains of the silver which was infused between the stones, in 
order to unite them the more firmly. Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 259. 

i Meyen's Voyage round the world, Berlin, 1834 ; in For. Q,uar. 
Rev. No. xxix. p. 12. 



/ 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 155 

Ruschenberger considers these ruins to be the remains of the 
temple of that god.* 

At a short distance from Lima, on the northern road, are 
vestiges of an ancient town called Concon. The walls, like 
those of Pachacamac, are built of adobe, or sun-burnt brick, are 
of considerable thickness, and are still standing, in some places, 
to the height of nine or ten feet. The situation of these re- 
mains is immediately at the foot of a hill, which appears to have 
been fortified, and encircled with thick walls, portions of which 
are still visible. f 

On the right-hand side of the road from Callao to Lima, may 
be observed other ruins, formed of clay or adobes ; the walls of 
some of the dwellings are about two feet thick, and six feet 
high.f Near the town of Cayambe, Ulloa saw the remains of a 
temple built of unburnt brick. It stood on an eminence, its 
figure was circular, and its diameter was about fifty feet. The 
walls are fifteen feet high, from four to five feet thick, and 
the bricks are cemented together with clay : this edifice is sup- 
posed to have been dedicated to Pachacamac.§ 

According to Ulloa, one of the ancient methods of fortifica- 
tion consisted in digging three or four ranges of moats quite 
around the tops of high and steep mountains, and protecting 
them, on the inside, by parapets. These were called pucuras, 
and within the last range of moats, were the barracks for the 
garrison ; in some of these, the outward circumvallation was 

* Smyth's Narrative of a Journey from Lima to Para, p. 1. Ste- 
venson, vol. i. p. 144. Ruschenberger, p. 300. 
f Smyth's Narrative, p. 17. 

X Mod. Trav. Peru, vol. ii. p. 23. Stevenson, vol. i. p. 140. 
§ Ulloa, vol. i. p. 498. Stevenson, vol. ii. 341. 



156 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

above a league in extent. His remark, that fortresses of this 
kind are so numerous that one scarce meets with a mountain 
without them, is justified, in a great measure, by the observa- 
tions of more recent travellers.* 

Near the village of Banos, in Huamalies, are the ruins of a 
large building, somewhat similar to those of Cannar and Callo, 
and of a circular temple ; and on the tops of two mountains, 
one situated on each side of the river, are the remains of two 
fortresses. In the construction of these fortifications, the sides 
of the mountains have been divided into galleries ranged one 
above another, in some parts formed by artificial breastworks, 
and in others cut out of the solid rock, the breastwork being 
left in solid stone.f 

Near the road from Potosi to Tacua, upon an eminence, are 
the remains of an ancient city. On one side it was protected 
by a deep ravine, and it was surrounded by a rampart of stone- 
work. The walls have openings or embrasures, and the stones 
are " dovetailed together in a very singular manner. In the 
centre of the place was a citadel, reserved as a last retreat from 
hostile attack."J 

In the vicinity of Guambacho are the remains of an extensive 
line of fortifications ; the wall runs along the side of a lofty 
mountain, close to the sea, is entire in many parts, and appears 
to have been built with rude bastions.^ 

Near Patavilca, and about one hundred and twenty miles 

* Ulloa, vol. i. p. 504. Stevenson, vol. ii. pp. 342, etc. 

t Mercurio Peruano, vol. v. p. 259. Stevenson, vol. ii. pp. 100, 101. 

% Andrews' Travels in S. Am., vol. ii. p. 161. 

§ Stevenson, vol. i, pp. 312. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



157 



from Lima, is a place called Paramonga, or The Fortalesa. 
" The ruins of a fortified palace of very great extent are here 
visible; the walls are of tempered clay, and about six feet 
thick. The principal building stood upon an eminence, but 
the walls were continued to the foot of it like regular circum- 
vallations ; the ascent winded round the hill, leaving many 
angles, which probably served as outworks to defend the place. 
It is supposed to have belonged to the Chimu or King of Man- 
sichi, and was a frontier palace during the time of the Incas." 
Not far from the Fortalesa are the ruins of an extensive town.* 
The valley of Guarmey contains the ruins of an ancient fortress, 
and also a structure similar in design to the wall of Tlascala, 
in Mexico. The valley, it is said, is crossed by the vestiges of 
a wall, which is supposed to have been built by the Grand 
Chimu in his last war with the Incas f Similar military works 
have been discovered in many other places in Peru ; and also 
in Chile,! where, amongst others, the remains of an ancient 
fortress are to be observed near the river Cuchapoal.§ 

Sculpture. The dexterity of these people in cutting stone, 
and other hard substances, excites our amazement.|| Humboldt 

* Ulloa, vol. ii. p. 27. Stevenson, vol. ii. pp. 22, 23. 

In the plain on which the city of Truxillo is situated, called del 
Chimu, are the remains of what is supposed to have been the ancient 
residence of the Chimu. They appear like the foundations of a 
large city, or the walls of a garden crossing each other at right an- 
gles. — Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 121. Ruschenberger, p. 381. 

f Ruschenberger, p. 361. J Frezier. p. 262. 

§ Molina, vol. ii. pp. 10, 68. 

|| The Jesuit's College at Quito, a beautiful piece of architec- 
ture and sculptured workmanship, was constructed by the Indians, 
under the direction of Father Sanches, a native of Quito. In 



158 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



brought from South America a ring of obsidian, which had 
been a girl's bracelet, and was in the form of a very delicate, 
hollow, perforated cylinder : " we can scarcely conceive," he 
remarks, " how a vitreous and fragile substance could be re- 
duced to the state of so thin a plate."* At Patavilca we find 
sculptures in porphyry, basalt and other hard stones, and every- 
where through Peru, similar evidences of the ancient skill, in 
cutting the hardest of rocks, abound.f The axes of basalt, the 
marble vases and the sculptured rocks in Chile; and the engraved 
Calendar Stone, and the head found by Humboldt amongst the 
Muyscas, indicate that these signs of civilization are not con- 
fined within the boundaries of the Peruvian empire, f The dis- 
tinguished traveller just mentioned, from the observation of the 
great perfection of these sculptures, was induced to believe, that 
tools of copper had been used in their formation ; and he adds, 
that this conjecture has been justified, by the discovery of an 
ancient Peruvian chisel, found at Villacamba, near Cuzco, in 
a silver mine worked in the time of the Incas, consisting of 
ninety-four parts of copper and six of tin.t Some of the arti- 

Chile "in the plains and upon most of the mountains," says 
Molina, "are to be seen a great number of flat circular stones, 
of five or six inches in diameter, with a hole through the middle. 
These stones which are either granite or porphyry have doubtless 
received this form by artificial means, and I am induced to believe 
that they were the clubs or maces of the ancient Chilians, and that 
the holes were perforated to receive the handles." — Molina, vol. i. 
p. 56. 

* Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 257. Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 23. 
t Frezier, p. 135. Molina, vol. ii. p. 25. Humboldt's Researches, 
vol. ii. p. 205. 

% Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 260. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 159 

cles found in the mounds are also composed of hardened copper ; 
and Dr. Meyen, in speaking of the collection of antiquities in 
the Museum at Lima, says, " the ancient weapons are of cop- 
per, and some are of exquisite manufacture." 

Traces of the art of cutting and working in stone are not 
confined, even, to the extensive region just indicated. In the 
province of Cujo, in Chile, between the cities of Mendoza and 
La Punta, upon a low range of hills, on a large stone pillar, 
called " The Giant," certain marks or inscriptions have been 
observed ; and near the Diamond river, upon another stone, 
besides some ciphers, or characters, are the figures of several 
animals, and " the impressions" of human feet* Passing far 
to the north, on the banks of the Orinoco and in various parts 
of Guiana, there are rude figures traced upon granite and other 
hard stones, some of them, like those in the United States, cut 
at an immense height upon the face of perpendicular rocks. 
They represent the sun and moon, tigers, crocodiles, and snakes, 
and occasionally they appear to be hieroglyphical figures and 
regular characters.! 

It is unnecessary, after having thus examined the testimony 
of numerous travellers, to enter into any labored argument 
for the confutation of the observation of Robertson, who con- 
cludes a brief description of the state of society in Peru by 
saying, " in all the dominions of the Incas, Cuzco was the only 
place that had the appearance, or was entitled to the name, of 
a city for the extent of some of these ruins, and the traces of 
the great skill and patient labor, with which the most barren 
soils were cultivated and rendered fertile and productive, prove 

* Molina, vol. i. p. 270. 

| Humboldt's Pers. Narr., vol. v. pp. 593, 595. Vol. 4. p. 499. 



160 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

bevond contradiction the existence of an ancient agricultural 
population, and their association in large communities and 
cities. Nor are these evidences of civilization confined to the 
isolated instances which have been cited : "up even to the very 
tops of the mountains, that line the valleys through which I have 
passed." remarks Mr. Temple. I observed many ancient ruins, 
attesting a former population, where now all is desolate."* 
" In proceeding on our journey from Guarmey,'" says Ulloa, 
"we met with a great many remains of the edifices of the 
Incas. Some were the walls of palaces, others, as it were, 
large dikes by the sides of spacious highways, and others for- 
tresses or castles, properly situated for checking: the inroads of 
enemies."! Humboldt states, that these ruins are scattered 
along the ridges of the Cordilleras, from the thirteenth degree 
of south latitude, to the equator, and that he counted nine 
of them, between the Paramo of Chulucanas. and Guanca- 
bamba.t 

But in examining the line of civilization, as indicated at 
present by these ancient remains, which is found to commence 
on the plains of Yarinas. and to extend thence to the ruins of 
the stone edifices, which were observed about the middle of the 
last century, on the road over the Andes, in the province of 
Cujo, in Chile : or to the road described by the Jesuit ImonsrT ; 
or to the ancient aqueducts upon the banks of the river May- 
pocho, in south latitude thirty-three degrees sixteen minutes ; 
we are surprised to discover a continuous, unbroken chain of 
these relics of aboriginal civilization. Reverting to the epoch 

* Travels in Peru, vol. ii. p. 43. 

t Ulloa, vol. ii. p. 27. Ibid. vol. i. p. 503. 

{ Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 255. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 19S. 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 161 

of their construction, we are presented with the astonishing 
spectacle of a great race cultivating the earth and possessing 
many of the arts, diffused at an early period through an im- 
mense territory, three thousand miles in extent. Even up to 
the time of the discovery, most of this vast region was occupied 
by populous tribes, who w T ere dependent upon agriculture for 
subsistence, were clothed, and in the enjoyment of regular sys- 
tems of religion, and their own peculiar forms of government. 
From conquest and various causes, some sovereignties had 
increased more rapidly than others ; but still, whether we are 
guided by the testimony of the Spanish invaders, or by the 
internal evidence yet existent in the ancient ruins, it is impos- 
sible not to trace, alike in their manners, customs and physical 
appearance, and in the general similitude observable in the 
character of their monuments, that they were all members of 
the same family of the human race, and probably of identical 
origin. 

Clearly, then, it is a great error to suppose, that the Peru- 
vian empire embraced within its limits all the civilized tribes. 
Indeed the Incas, themselves, acknowledged the existence, at 
Tiahuanaco, of ancient structures of more remote origin, than 
the era of the foundation of their empire ; and which were con- 
fessedly the models of those, erected by them in. their own do- 
minions, — an admission fully proved by an examination of their 
edifices. This fact attaches great interest to the sacred lake 
of Titicaca, and its environs, which we are led to consider as an 
ancient, perhaps the most ancient, locality of South American 
civilization. Ik indicates also two epochs of the arts, one of 
remote antiquity, and the other of modern date; and exhibits, 
in that respect, a striking parallelism with Mexico. 

21 



PART II. 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 
HISTORY OF THE RED RACE, 



CHAPTER I. 

COMPARISON OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 

The various topics of interest, connected with the history of 
the aborigines of America, are naturally resolved into two great 
divisions. Of these, the first includes several important ques- 
tions relating to their history, since the original migration to 
this continent, and the second respects the solution of the pro- 
blem of their origin ; the first is confined, in its discussion, to a 
review of the ancient monuments which have been described, 
and to an examination of the traditions, languages, customs, and 
institutions of the respective tribes and nations, and the second 
involves a comparison with several of the nations of the eastern 
hemisphere. Many facts, however, are common links to the 
chain of each investigation, and it is impossible, therefore, to 
comprehend their full force, in either case, until the argument 
in relation to both is finally determined. 

Having, at this point, examined the ancient ruins, in a 
manner too general perhaps to present a graphic description, 



164 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



but, it is hoped, with a minuteness sufficient for the comprehen- 
sion of their style and character, we are led to inquire, whether 
they present any indications of having proceeded from the same 
race. It has already been seen that they appear to be capable 
of an arrangement into three groups ; those found in the United 
States composing one ; those in Mexico and the adjacent 
states constituting another ; and the third consisting of such as 
have been discovered in South America. It is true, that each 
of these three leading divisions embraces the productions of art 
of many distinct nations, differing, as it is reasonable to antici- 
pate, in various minor and unimportant details ; but we still find 
striking analogies which indicate their common origin. In a 
comparison of the groups themselves, the same remark is appli- 
cable, and while we discern much that appears peculiar and 
original in the arts and civilization of each, there are, also, 
certain decided marks of a primitive connection, between these 
three great families, — just such traces of relationship, indeed, 
as might be presumed would have survived, after the lapse of 
many ages since their separation. 

The style of architecture, among semi-civilized nations, 
depends greatly upon the materials which abound in their ter- 
ritory ; and even with the same people, a change often takes 
place in the aspect and formation of their structures, produced 
by revolutions, political causes, or a migration from one district 
to another of a more or less favorable character. This may be 
observed in Egypt and India, as well as in America, and may 
serve to explain such differences as manifestly exist between 
the ancient edifices in the United States, Mexico, and South 
America. In view, then, of the very remote period at which 
the original separation of the aborigines occurred, and of the 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



165 



physical peculiarities distinguishing the particular districts into 
which they proceeded, in the progress of this inquiry we should 
have constant reference to the natural aspect of each locality, 
and should prefer a comparison of the most ancient monuments, 
and such as, from their connection with religion, were the least 
exposed to change and innovation. 

Near lake Titicaca, on the plains of Tiahuanaco, in Peru, 
are the remains of what has been generally esteemed as the 
most ancient temple in South America, and which was reli- 
giously copied by the Incas, in their sacred edifices : and ac- 
cording to the authorities, it was an enormous terraced pyramid, 
faced with stone, and dedicated to the Creator of the universe. 
The Temple of the Sun at Pachacamac was built upon an arti- 
ficial hill or mound. At other places, in the same country, 
structures which have been denominated fortresses, upon uncer- 
tain conjecture, were apparently built in the same terraced 
style. The temple at Diezmo was elevated, and approached 
by means of a flight of steps on two sides; the "fortress" 
at Cannar was a building erected upon an oval platform of 
earth, supported by two terraces, the axes of which were in the 
direction of the cardinal points ; the " fortresses" at Huamalies 
were hills regularly terraced to their summits ; the same was 
the case with the mount which supported the "palace" at Pata- 
vilca; and we find similar terraced hills, even in Chile. If 
some of these were religious structures, consecrated to the Deity, 
or to the Sun, we may regard them as the remains of those 
magnificent "Temples of the Sun," spoken of by the early 
authors, or at least as the terraced pyramids, partly or wholly 
artificial, which supported those sacred edifices. 

In Mexico and the neighboring states, we know that the 



166 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Teocalli, or " Houses of God," or Houses of the Sun, — for the 
word " Teotl," the appellation of the Supreme Being, was also 
used to denote that luminary, — were regular terraced pyramids, 
supporting chapels which contained the images of their idolatry. 
Indeed, the two great pyramids of Teotihuacan were dedicated, 
respectively, to the Sun and Moon, and those which surrounded 
them to the Stars. 

In the United States, we have some specimens of the ter- 
raced pyramid, preserved to this day, though immense mounds 
of earth, without stages, most usually supplied its place. Oc- 
casionally we perceive that the terraces have almost disap- 
peared, but in other instances they are plainly visible. " The 
great mound at Cahokia," observes Mr. Brackenridge, "is evi- 
dently constructed with as much regularity, as any of the Teo- 
calli of New Spain ; and was doubtless cased with brick, or 
stone, and crowned with buildings." In common with the 
Peruvians and Mexicans, and other nations in New Spain and 
South America, the Natchez, and other tribes in the United 
States, also worshipped the Sun ; and from the contents of our 
mounds, from the form and position of some, unquestionably 
devoted to religious purposes, from the coincidence between 
them and the temples of Peru and Mexico, in ranging accu- 
rately with the cardinal points ; and from the care with which 
an eastern view and access were preserved, it may be concluded, 
that the worship of that body Avas a prominent feature in the 
religion of their authors. This opinion is confirmed, moreover, 
by the medals of the Sun and Moon, which have been disin- 
terred from the mounds* The Mexicans and Peruvians were 
skilled in astronomy ; among all ancient and primitive nations, 

* Arch. Am., vol. i. p. 243. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



167 



the worship of the heavenly bodies was connected with a know- 
ledge of that science ; and the benefit of this inference may be 
justly claimed for the Mound-builders. Among those tribes in 
the United States, which appear to have preserved some relics 
of this ancient faith, we might anticipate the existence of some 
traditional proof of the name and uses of the great mounds. 
Accordingly the tradition of the Choctaws, in relation to the 
mound on the Black river, maintained that " in its midst is a 
great cave, which is the 'House of the Great Spirit;'" and 
Adair expressly assures us, that the same tribe called these old 
mounds " Nanne-Yah,"— " The Hills or Mounts of God," a 
name almost identical with that of the Mexican pyramids.* 

It may be observed also, that both the Mounds and the 
Teocalli are frequently approached by converging roads or 
causeways, in such a manner as to favor the idea, that at cer- 
tain great festivals they were visited by processions of large 
bodies of people ;f that the Teocalli, the Temples of the Sun, 
and some of the Mounds, were alike surrounded by walls, or 
trenches; and that the regular disposition of small mounds 
around the Teocalli resembles the symmetrical arrangement of 
the tumuli around many of the Mounds. 

It must be confessed, that in the progress of this comparison, 
we find no vestiges in the United States of such edifices as 
crowned the Mexican and Peruvian terraces. But upon the 
great alluvial plains of the west, the materials for such struc- 

* Tr. Am. Phil. Soc, vol. iii. p. 216. Adair, p. 378. 
f This is a clearly authenticated historical fact, in relation to the 
Teocalli. 



168 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



tures are rare.* " All the monuments I have seen," says Mr. 
Flint, " were in regular forms, generally cones, or parallelo- 
grams. If it be remarked, that the rude monuments of this 
kind, those of the Mexican Indians even, are structures of 
stone, and that these are all of earth, I can only say, that these 
memorials of former toil and existence are, as far as my obser- 
vation has extended, all in regions destitute of stones."f Per- 
haps, however, upon this point, it must be conceded, that the 
people of the North had deteriorated and fallen away, in some 
degree, from the more advanced civilization of their progenitors 
at the South; and particularly had experienced that decline in 
architectural art, which might naturally occur to a migrating 
tribe. That the authors of the Mounds were not wholly igno- 
rant of the art of working in stone, appears from many of the 
ruins. The fortresses surrounded by walls of stone ; the sculp- 
tured remains discovered in the mounds ; the stone buildings, in 
Missouri, constructed with great symmetry and with regular 
apartments; and the ruins of an ancient town, in the same 
State, where the lines of streets and squares, and the foundations 
of stone dwellings may still be seen, all tend in some measure 
to support this position.! 

The methods of fortification at the North and the South 

* In Assyria, a country occupied at a very early period, by na- 
tions skilled in the arts, the absence of any structures to be compared 
with those of Egypt has been explained, upon the same reasoning. — 
Landseer's Sabcean Res., p. 88. 

f Flint's Recollections, p. 164. 

t Ulloa speaks of the resemblance between certain old buildings 

in Louisiana and the Peruvian edifices. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



169 



present some analogies. Palisadoes, earthen entrenchments, 
and long walls with bastions were common ; and each peo- 
ple appears to have exercised great prudence and judgment, in 
the selection of commanding military positions.* In Peru and 
Mexico there are many vestiges of fortifications, similar to 
the mural remains of the United States. Ulloa speaks of nume- 
rous walls and ruins, in Peru, both in the plains, and on the 
sides and summits of hills, some of them composed of adobes or 
rough stone, without any arrangement, the more irregular of 
which were attributed to the Indians, before they were reduced 
by the Incas.f The earthen causeway, on the plains of Vari- 
nas, resembles many in the United States, and ancient earthen 
entrenchments have been observed, even in Chile. 

Water was a sacred element in Mexico ; the lakes of Titi- 
caca and Guativita, in South America, were objects of venera- 
tion, and one of them was certainly visited for the purpose of 
religious ablution ;J and from the position of many of the most 
remarkable mounds in the United States, upon the immediate 
margins of streams, it may be inferred that the same element 
was worshipped there. 

In South America, the dead were sometimes buried in ordi- 
nary graves, in a sitting posture, — at others, interred in the 
huacas, some of which were hollow, — again, they were depo- 
sited in caves, or burned, or embalmed. In Mexico all these 
methods prevailed ; the most usual course was interment in 

* Clavig., vol. ii. p. 389. 

f Ulloa, vol. i. p. 503. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 113. 

I The Peruvians were accustomed to bathe in rivers, by which 
means they supposed they were cleansed of their sins. — Vega, vol. i. 
p. 16. 

22 



170 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



common graves, and in a sitting posture; the bodies of chiefs , 
kings and illustrious persons were either embalmed, or burnt, 
the ashes and bones being often deposited in the mounds and 
Teocalli, many of which were hollow : caves were also some- 
times employed as cemeteries.* In our own country are ancient 
graves, with bodies buried in a sitting posture ; mounds erected 
over the ashes of the dead, or with chambers containing skele- 
tons ; and caves in which numerous bodies have been discovered, 
wrapped in cloths, interred in the same peculiar flexed position, 
and betraying strong indications of the custom of embalming. 
The practice of burying with the deceased articles emblematic 
of his character or intended for his use in another life, and also a 
portion of his riches, was common to all these nations, as has 
been demonstrated by the contents of their sepulchres. 

The masks dug from the mounds, have a parallel in the 
masks represented upon the Mexican monuments, and employed 
in their religious ceremonies, and also in the masks used by the 
Muyscas, in South America. Articles composed of copper have 
been found in the mounds ; and the Mexicans and Peruvians 
possessed the knowledge of the art of hardening that metal, by 
an alloy of tin, in which manner, probably, the tools employed 
in the execution of their sculptures were fabricated. A cop- 
per cross has been discovered, lying upon the breast of a skel- 
eton, in one of our mounds ; a cross decorated the pinnacle of the 

* In some caves, near Durango, in Mexico, it is said, a vast num- 
ber of mummies has been discovered. They were buried in a sitting 
posture, and wrapped, in bands of cloth. With them were found de- 
posited a great variety of ornaments, beads, knives of flint, finely 
worked cloths and marine shells. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



171 



Temple of the Sun, at Cuzco, and the same object was worship- 
ped in Yucatan, and the adjacent countries. 

Marine shells have been exhumed from the mounds, were 
sacred in Mexico, and have been discovered in the huacas. 
Cloths of a manufacture similar to those fabricated at the south, 
were wrapped around the mummies of the Kentucky caves : 
articles of gold and silver, and beads and necklaces appear in 
the mounds ; and the use of the precious metals, and of beads 
and necklaces was common to the southern nations. The Pec- 
cari, the bones of which have been found in one of the Ken- 
tucky caves, is the Mexican hog, an animal not indigenous in 
the north. Some of the northern nations venerated the owl ; 
the Evil Spirit, or malign God of the Mexicans was called 
(i Tlacatecolotl," or rational owl ; and the sculptured owl dis- 
covered in one of the Ohio tumuli, appears to have been sus- 
pended from the roof of some building, like many of the Mexi- 
can sacred sculptures. The Cyclopean arch of inverted steps,, 
was probably used in Peru, is perceived in the Mexican and 
Toltec edifices, and in the stone buildings in Missouri. Covered 
ways, leading from the ancient towns and cities to adjacent 
streams, are observable in Mexico and the United States ; the 
Mexicans and the Mound -builders wore buskins, conical caps, 
and head-dresses somewhat similar ; and in fine, all three of 
these groups of nations employed mirrors in their religious cer- 
emonies, constructed brick and earthenware, wrought in some 
of the metals and in stone, built roads, and conduits for water, 
and attained considerable perfection in agriculture. It thus 
appears, from this brief comparison, that America presents 
three points of ancient civilization, between which, so far as 
may be gathered from monuments and relics, some striking 
analogies are developed. 



172 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



CHAPTER II. 

ANCIENT CIVILIZATION ABORIGINAL MIGRATIONS. 

I. Decline of ancient civilization. If the examination 
of the architectural monuments, and other remains of these 
three families of civilized nations, appears in a measure, 
to identify their origin,— or at least to justify the infer- 
ence, that they were constructed by members of the same 
primitive branch of the human race, separated after their 
arrival on this continent; whither are we to look for the 
origin of the other, and less civilized class of American abori- 
gines ? Whence came the tribes of barbarous Indians ? It may, 
possibly, be considered somewhat extraordinary, and unphilo- 
sophical, to search for any traces of their derivation from an 
ancient and civilized race, among the arts, customs, and tradi- 
tions of rude and ignorant savages. \ v But although many of the 
Indian tribes, as well at the period of the discovery as at pre- 
sent, might be estimated as rude, and some of them nearly at 
the lowest grade of humanity, there exists reason for asserting 
of them, in common with other families of men, a descent from 
a more enlightened ancestry.' It is indeed a grave question 
whether any portions of our race, however abased, have not 
retrograded from a more advanced stage of knowledge and in- 
telligence. ' Many refined theorists upon the rights, laws, and 
institutions of mankind, have been wont to picture an original 
condition of social infancy, whence in slow gradation all the 
arts and sciences have emerged. Unquestionably, vast regions 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



173 



of the earth are now occupied by tribes in this state of barbar- 
ism, but is it certain that such was their original condition ; or 
cannot we, rather, by some feeble glimmerings of light amid 
their dark and unseemly institutions, perceive the wreck and 
fragments of a higher degree of knowledge, the remains of a 
more beautiful and lofty order of things ? 

Historically, no such period of common and universal de- 
gradation has ever existed, if we place any reliance upon an- 
cient authorities, or upon that most venerable of all records, 
the Bible. We find no foundation for such an opinion, amid 
the relics which have been transmitted to us, both from sacred 
and profane sources, of the human condition before the deluge. 
Man, as we are told in the Genesis, was formed in the express 
image of his Maker, — and what more vigorous and comprehen- 
sive language could have been chosen, to indicate that his moral 
and intellectual faculties were of the highest and noblest order 
and capacity ? The primitive members of the human family, 
also, were probably not enervated in their mental and physical 
power, to such an extent as in subsequent ages, by the effect 
upon the human constitution of great moral turpitude and sen- 
sual excess, which appear to have the power of impairing the 
original perfection of our nature, by a gradual and hereditary 
increment. It has been suggested, likewise, that the duration 
of antediluvian life was favorable to more thorough, complete, 
and rapid attainments in knowledge, from the opportunity af- 
forded for prolonged individual observation, experience and 
reflection.* The learning of a short life just developed into im- 

* The remark of Josephus on this point, is, at the least, curious. 
" Wherefore," he says, "on account of their virtue, as well as for the 
perfection of the arts of astronomy and geometry, which they invent- 



174 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



portant principles and results, was not suddenly cut short and 
buried in the grave, to attain an imperfect resurrection with the 
youth of a new generation, after toil and study ; but ages rolled 
on, during the sure and steady course of uninterrupted indi- 
vidual observation, and in the life of a single person sciences 
might spring from the germ, into full and ample expansion. In 
any event it is certain, that the nearer we approach the crea- 
tion, the more are evidences exhibited of great spiritual and 
intellectual attainments, — of revelations from heaven, — commu- 
nions with the Creator, — an understanding of great moral truths, 
and an extensive knowledge in physical science. By the dim 
and misty light, with which we see darkly this distant period, 
enough is still perceptible, to infer that the human mind, instead 
of being debased, held an exalted condition, from which it 
subsequently fell. The origin of the art of writing lies beyond 
the reach of authentic profane history, and language appears to 
have been thus represented, before the picture-writing and hie- 
roglyphic systems were in use. Yet there are several traditions, 
which ascribe to it an origin before the flood. Eustathius says 
that the Pelasgians were called divine, because they alone, of 
all the Greeks, possessed the use of letters after the deluge.* 
The accuracy of the genealogies of the Genesis favors the same 
idea ; the art of writing is mentioned in the book of Job,f one 
of the most ancient of works, and at least it may be permitted 

ed, God permitted them (the Patriarchs) a longer life, inasmuch as 
they would have been incapable of predicting any thing with cer- 
tainty, unless they lived six hundred years, for such is the period of 
the completion of the great year." — Josephus. Antiq., lib. i. c. 3. 
* Com. Iliad, p. 841. | Job 13 : 26 ; 19 : 23, 31. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



175 



to say, that " it might be improper to assert that letters were 
unknown before the deluge."* 

But let us examine in other respects. Of Adam's two sons, 
one was a tiller of the earth, and the other a shepherd ; — as we 
proceed from the creation towards the era of the flood, we learn 
that social institutions existed, that the useful arts were prac- 
tised, and that music and astronomy were cultivated. There 
were artificers in brass and iron, — the ark was constructed, — 
the year was divided into months, and there are good reasons 
for supposing, was calculated at its real duration. Sir William 
Drummond has endeavored to show that the zodiac was actu- 
ally divided ;f Noah was acquainted with the division of ani- 
mals into clean and unclean, and consequently, to a certain 
extent, with natural history. J The author just cited proves 
that the Babylonians considered their country to have been 
rich and flourishing before the deluge ;§ and Job attributes his 
knowledge to the former age.|| Immediately after that event, 
we find additional tokens of civilization. The division of the 
heavens into constellations is clearly pointed out in the book of 
Job, and probably the representation of these by the figures of 
animals. Shortly after the deluge, we read of " bows of steel 
and molten mirrors ;" as appears from the account of Babel, 



* Josephus, 1, 2. Amm. Marcell. lib. 22. Astle's Origin and 
Progress of Writing, p. 46. Wall on Egn. Hieroglyphics. Davies' 
Celtic Researches, pp. 34, 40. 

f Origines, vol. ii. p. 121. 

X Mr. Davies has ably examined some of these proofs of ante- 
diluvian civilization, in his " Celtic Researches." 
§ Origines, vol. i. p. 55. H Ch. 8, 15. 



176 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



mankind were associated into large communities, and in cities ;* 
and religion, the arts, and sciences were cultivated, according to 
the most ancient monuments and records of the oldest nations. 
The Egyptians will sufficiently illustrate the perfection which 
had thus been attained, so recently after the flood. Eighteen 
hundred years before our era, they were acquainted with the 
manufacture of linen, constructed cabinet-ware with great taste 
and elegance, were skilled in the working and smelting of 
gold, silver, copper, lead, brass and iron, and in other metal- 
lurgic arts, and of necessity possessed an acquaintance with the 
phenomena and principles of chemistry. They embalmed the 
bodies of the dead, and manufactured various liquors. They 
formed artificial gems of exquisite beauty,f and their pig- 
ments were of great lustre and permanence.J " They were not 
only acquainted with glass, but excelled in staining it of divers 
hues, and their ingenuity had pointed out to them the mode of 
carrying devices of various colors directly through the fused 
substance." Their work in pottery and porcelain was brought 
to a high degree of perfection, and their vases display forms of 
the most graceful elegance. In mensuration, geometry and 
astronomy they were well versed, and their architectural pro- 
ductions still excite the astonishment of the world. In music 
" they were acquainted with the triple symphony — the harmony 
of instruments — of voices — and of voices and instruments." In 
the days of Joseph their commerce extended to distant nations, 
and their civil and religious institutions were firmly established. 
The existence of castes alone, is an important evidence of early 

* In the days of Moses, the Canaanites dwelt in great walled 
cities, " fenced up to heaven." Deut. 9 : 1. 

t Seneca, epist. xc. J Pliny Nat. Hist. 1. 26, 27. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



177 



civilization, as it is predicated upon a settled state of public 
polity, and a uniform system of labor.* That which is ob- 
served of the Egyptians in these early ages, is applicable in a 
great measure to the Chaldeans, Etrurians, Hindoos, Chinese, 
Mexicans and Peruvians, and other primitive nations, whose 
traditions generally assign the arts to an antediluvian, or to an 
heroic or fabulous origin, or agree that they were existing at a 
period of unexplored antiquity. With these evidences of very 
early civilization among the most ancient nations, are we justi- 
fied in regarding the rude and ignorant tribes of the earth, as 
the inheritors of an original barbarism, common to all mankind 
before the separation ? The Hindoo traditions declare barbari- 
ans to be outcasts, who have been driven from society, or who 
have wandered away from their parent stock, and subsequently 
become degraded; and surely if the civilization, existing so 
shortly after the deluge, was general before the dispersion, such 
is the only rational conclusion. 

This idea is supported also by a sense of justice, which on 
the contrary supposition, is shocked at an apparent unequal 
distribution, among different people, of those faculties efficient 
towards advancement. On the other hand, the opposing opin- 
ion is based on an assumption, that mankind in a state of 
moral darkness are capable of originating and perfecting their 
own civilization, — a doctrine unsupported by a single historical 
fact, and contrary to the course of events, in all antiquity. The 
assertion that mankind " always advance and never recede, 
is equally untrue in philosophy and experience." At this 
epoch, as we are too prone, on the one hand, to convert conclu- 
sions founded upon the course of the empires of antiquity, into 

* Vide Wilkinson, passim. 
23 



178 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



predictions applicable to modern times, and to teach the ne- 
cessary and natural, rise and decadence of nations, so on the 
other hand, from the modern conviction of the sure, and steady, 
and onward course of the human mind for the future, it is usual 
to imagine that the converse is true, and as progression must 
have had a commencement, to suppose a period when barbar- 
ism was the common and primary condition of our race. Both 
speculations are perhaps equally unsound, and certainly the 
comparison is unjust, for it is based upon a fictitious analogy 
between different and discrepant states of humanity. From 
the Christian era, or rather from that time, when the civiliza- 
tion of Greece, and of Rome had been finally buried in a common 
grave, — when the light of science and literature was extin- 
guished, and the new and brighter light of a pure religion be- 
gan to exert its power, — from that period when the vitality of 
the old pagan system became extinct, and even the fresh infu- 
sion of northern barbarism was ultimately subdued by the reno- 
vating influence of another code of morals, the human intellect 
has been advancing in a steady and unfaltering course of im- 
provement. Before that epoch, however, it was far otherwise, 
and the historic parallel for many ages runs in a contrary di- 
rection. We then find knowledge transmitted from nation to 
nation — its first beams always coming from without, rather than 
originating from an internal impulse. Nations then were fitly 
emblemized by human life, and had their epochs of youth, man- 
hood, old age, and death. Falling upon a new and perhaps 
vigorous soil, the germs of civilization were often developed 
into the most luxuriant growth, but the principle of life was 
wanting, and decay inevitably succeeded. Thus w r as it with 
Rome and Greece, the best illustrations of the ante-Christian 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



179 



era ; and as we recede into earlier ages, the same course of 
degradation is perceived, until we reach those remote times 
when the primitive nations existed, and are carried back to the 
period shortly subsequent to the flood, and even to the antedi- 
luvian ages. With these views, on turning to the uncivilized 
aboriginal tribes of both Americas, we shall be able to discern 
much that favors the idea of their descent from more enlight- 
ened progenitors, — faint traces of an ancient civilization not 
wholly obliterated by the lapse of time. And before entering 
upon the investigation, this position may be strengthened by 
the striking and appropriate language of Wm. Von Humboldt : 
" Neither has the important question yet been resolved," he re- 
marks, " whether that savage state, which even in America is 
found in various gradations, is to be looked upon as the dawn- 
ing of a society about to rise, or whether it is not rather the 
fading remains of one, sinking amidst storms, overthrown and 

shattered by overwhelming catastrophes. To me the latter sup- 
is 

position seems to be nearer the truth than the former." 

II. Common origin of the aborigines. If the idea just 
advanced, in relation to the civilization of the primitive nations 
in the early ages of the world, be correct ; and if we are justified 
in asserting for many barbarous tribes, a descent from more 
cultivated ancestors; it becomes proper to examine whether 
there are any substantial grounds of distinction, indicating a 
difference of origin, between the two great divisions of American 
aborigines, — the barbarous, and the civilized. 

1. Physical appearance. There are few points, upon which 
both travellers and naturalists have been more united in opinion, 
than the physical unity of the American race. No portion 
of the globe, of the same extent, presents so striking a unifor- 



180 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



mity in the physical conformation of its inhabitants ; and, with- 
out excepting those varieties which may have arisen from climate 
and peculiar modes of life, all the aborigines of both Americas, 
barbarous or cultivated, in their features, color, and other char- 
acteristic indications, exhibit the clearest evidence of belonging 
to the same great race of the human family. No clearly estab- 
lished traces of ancient intermixture with other varieties of 
mankind can be discovered ; and this general resemblance, 
therefore, besides proving the common origin of all the tribes, 
tends also to establish, that up to the era of the discovery, none 
but the Red race had occupied our continent. 

2. Language. It was an old and common error, to consider 
the residents of every Indian village as a distinct tribe; and 
such was the imperfect knowledge of their dialects, that this 
mistake w T as confirmed by the impression, that many languages, 
now ascertained to be nearly related, were wholly dissimilar. 
It is not intended to deny the great diversity, w^hich really ex- 
ists in this respect, nor to trace fanciful analogies between the 
languages of the various aboriginal nations. But the close and 
searching investigations, which have been made into the char- 
acter of these languages, have demonstrated the important fact, 
that through them all, there may be traced a general unity of 
structure, and a close and positive similarity in grammatical 
forms. It was remarked, some years since, that in their con- 
struction, in the attributes, the verbs and numerals, a great 
analogy existed. Mr. Duponceau, in IS 19, observed that a 
striking resemblance was perceptible between the forms of the 
languages of South and North America ; that this analogy was 
common to all the languages ; and that to this general principle 
of construction he had not been able li to find one single, well- 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



J81 



ascertained exception." Mr. Gallatin, who has bestowed great 
learning and research upon this subject, confirms these opinions, 
and considers it proved, that all the languages, not only of our 
own Indians, but of the natives from the Arctic Ocean to Cape 
Horn, have, as far as they have been examined, a distinct 
character common to all, which seems to establish, "beyond a 
doubt, that common origin, which could not be discovered in 
vocabularies so entirely different from each other ;" and he adds 
the important observation, that " whilst the unity of structure 
and of grammatical forms proves a common origin, it may be 
inferred from this, combined with the great diversity and entire 
difference in the words of the several languages of America, 
that this continent received its first inhabitants at a very remote 
period, probably not much posterior to that of the dispersion of 
mankind."* ^ 

3. Religion. Broken and scattered as were the natives, into 
so many distinct communities, we are astonished to find the great 
congruity which exists between the religious belief and ideas of 
all the tribes, inclusive even of the Mexicans and Peruvians. 
Through the whole extent of both continents this uniformity is 
of so decisive a character, as to demonstrate a single primitive 
source. It will be sufficient at present to state, that with 
almost all of the aborigines, there is proof of the existence of a 
belief in a Supreme Being ; of the former worship of the Sun ; 
of an extensive polytheism, based apparently, in its origin, upon 
the doctrine of divine emanations; of a belief in the immortality 
of the soul and its future state, and in the transmigration of 
spirits : that, with most of the tribes, there were jugglers, who 

* Archseologia Am., vol. ii. pp. 6, 164. Vide also Flint's Recol- 
lections, p. 137 ; Molina, vol. ii. p. 285, etc. 



182 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



acted in the triple capacity of physicians, prophets, and sorce- 
rers, or priests ; and that sacred ablutions, fasts, and expiatory 
self-punishments and sacrifices, were of nearly equal prevalence 
in both continents. These religious ideas are of a primitive 
type, and are therefore worthy of great consideration ; for, while 
they prove the original unity of the native race, they indicate 
also the very early period of its separation and dispersion, — a 
conclusion just drawn from a comparison of the languages. 

4. Hieroglyphic Painting. The art of communicating 
ideas, and of preserving the memory of events, by artificial 
signs, was practised by the aborigines in two methods : the 
first consisted in the use of pictorial delineations, accompanied 
with symbols of a hieroglyphical character ; and the second, in 
the employment of knotted cords, and analogous means. The 
curious and complicated system of picture-writing possessed by 
the Mexicans was not only known to many nations in their 
vicinity, but also to at least one of the South American tribes, 
while it is conceived that traces of its ancient use may be ob- 
served among others. " The people of Quito," remarks Mrs. 
Graham, " pride themselves in retaining that excellence in 
painting, which distinguished their predecessors of the time of 
Pizarro."* And Frezier informs us that in his day Cuzco was 
famous for the vast number of pictures made there by the In- 
dians, and that he saw in the same place, portraits of the twelve 
Incas, one of which he copied.f Herrera speaks of the paint- 
ings of animals, w T hich adorned the great temple of Pachaca- 
mac, and^Garcia has the following singular passage : " At the 
beginning of the conquest, the Indians of Peru made their con- 
fessions by paintings and characters, which indicated the ten 

* Travels in Chile, p. 178. f Frezier's Voyage, pp. 175, 271. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



183 



commandments, and the sins committed against them."* The 
latter authority Humboldt seems to consider as sufficient to sup- 
port the conclusion, that the Peruvians were not wholly unac- 
quainted with the method of picture-writing, an opinion which 
the other facts just cited render more probable. The same au- 
thor has succeeded in establishing one well authenticated in- 
stance of the use of hieroglyphical paintings in South America. 
Among the Panoes, on the banks of the Ucayale, Narcissus 
Gilbar found books or bundles of paintings. They contained 
figures of men and animals, and hieroglyphic characters, deli- 
neated in brilliant colors. The tradition was, that they were 
transmitted to them by their fathers, and represented their an- 
cient travels and wars, and " hidden things which no stranger 
ought to know."f The sculptured hieroglyphic figures, in the 
caves near the mouth of the Arauca, and in other places, would 
suggest the wider extension of this art, in ancient times ; and 
it is somewhat curious that the Peruvian word, quellccani, to 
write, signifies to paintj and the Chileno word Chilean has the 
same double signification. § In North America the ancient fig- 
ures and inscriptions, and particularly those observed by Bishop 
Madison in Virginia, appear to belong to the same class of sym- 
bolic representations. Charlevoix speaks of certain cloths used 
in the funeral ceremonies of the Natchez, upon which " they 
had painted various figures," probably emblematic.|| As appears 
from Miguel Venegas, some insular tribes near the coast of Cal- 
ifornia had in their sacred places, paintings which seem to have 

* Origen de los Indios, p. 91, in Humb. 

f Res., vol. i. p. 174 ; vol. ii. p. 221. Acosta, 1. 5, c. 8, in ibid. 
I Vocabulario Qquichua o del Inca, Lima, 1608. p. 199. 
§ Molina, vol. ii. p. 25. || Voyage, vol. ii. p. 197. 



184 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



been S} T mbolical ;* and on the north-west coast of America the 
natives display a decided taste for hieroglyphical delineations.! 

Indeed many of the savage tribes, but more especially those 
of North America, employ conventional signs and paintings as 
a substitute for letters, and not more rudely executed than might 
be anticipated of a people, long degraded from a state of higher 
cultivation. DobrizhofFer relates that the Abipones, an eques- 
trian people of Paraguay, had certain signs and marks taught 
them by their ancestors, in the nature of a hieroglyphic lan- 
guage, which they cut upon trees ; and that the Guaranies are 
distinguished for their natural talent for painting.J The Ari- 
karas represent their battles, by paintings upon buffalo skins, 
and they denote their journeys by foot-tracks, a method pre- 
cisely similar to the one used by the Mexicans for that purpose.§ 
It is an ordinary Indian custom when they are engaged in hunt- 
ing or hostile expeditions, to leave at certain points, marks and 
pictures upon trees, so as to convey an idea of their number, the 
direction they have taken, the result of the adventure, or any 
incidents that may have occurred. || Mr. Pike describes one of 
these tokens, at a deserted encampment of the Chippeways, 
which imparted the information, that they had marched a 
party of fifty warriors, against the Sioux, and had killed four 
men and four women, which was represented by images carved 
out of pine or cedar.1T Indeed the Indians of this stock, the 
Algonquin, appear to have possessed a method of delineation by 

* Hist. Calif, vol. ii. p. 276. 

t Voyage de Marchand, in Pol. Ess., vol. i. p. 100. 
X An account of the Abipones, vol. ii. pp. 62, 63, 271. 
§ Brackenridge's Journal, p. 193. || Ibid. p. 156. 

H Pike's Expedition, p. 56. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 185 

which they aided the memory in retaining and recalling ideas, 
with considerable accuracy.* They have traditionary songs 
which are used at their feasts, for medicine hunting, and upon 
other occasions, some of which contain internal evidence of 
their own antiquity. These are preserved, and, as it were, re- 
corded, by rude pictures carved on a flat piece of wood, " which 
serve to suggest to the minds of those who have learned the 
songs, the ideas and their order of succession ; the words are 
not variable, but a man must be taught them ; otherwise, 
though from an inspection of the figure he might comprehend 
the idea, he would not know what to sing."f These pictures, 
as appears from the illustrations given of them, seem to belong 
to the same species of pictorial writing as the Mexican, though 
less complex and finished : we perceive the traces of a system 
of arbitrary symbols in relation to numbers, and to one of the 
elements, while another of the elements, water, is represented 
by the same natural figure as was used in Mexico, — undulating 
lines. It was probably from a study of these rude picture writ- 
ings, that Mr. Schoolcraft formed so high an idea of the abo- 
riginal method of delineation. 

The Algic nations, he says, found a substitute for letters, 
in a system of hieroglyphics of a general character, but quite 
exact in their mode of application and absolutely fixed in their 
elements ; they employed the same hieroglyphic signs to express 
names and events, which bore quite a resemblance to the Egyp- 
tian, expressed a series of whole images without adjuncts, and 
stood as general memoranda to help the recollection.! Ac- 



* James, in Tanner's Narrative, p. 33S. 
i Algic Researches, vol. i. pp. 19. 24. 

•24 



t Ibid. p. 341. 



186 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



cording to Lafitau, the figures, which the Indians engrave on 
their faces and bodies, serve as hieroglyphic writings and me- 
moirs.* When a savage has returned from war he will often 
paint his story upon bark or a blazed tree. He has character- 
istic marks which distinguish himself personally, — he traces his 
own figure, and adds other characters to explain his achieve- 
ments and actions. His own hieroglyphic symbol, like a her- 
aldic device, is painted on his body, — above his head he paints 
the thing which expresses his name, — at the side of the figure, he 
places the animals which are the symbols of his tribe and nation 
— the national symbol above that of his tribe ; — and then suc- 
ceed various signs, showing the number of his war party, — of 
the prisoners, and of those slain. The warriors are represented 
with their arms, or simply by lines — the prisoners by a stick or- 
namented with feathers, and other marks of slavery, and the 
dead by headless human figures. The same author remarks 
that he has seen many paintings of this description, and that in 
general all the Indians have a great number of symbols, and 
hieroglyphic figures of all kinds, which are to be regarded as a 
particular language, sufficiently ample, and supplied with many 
things in which writing is deficient. Charlevoix confirms this 
statement. It is the custom among some nations, he observes, 
for the chief of the victorious party, to leave on the field of bat- 
tle his war-club, on which he has taken care to trace the mark 
of his nation, that of his family and his portrait ; " that is to 
say, an oval, with all the figures he had on his face :" others 
paint these marks upon bark or on a tree, and " they add some 
hieroglyphic characters, by means of which those who pass by, 

* Lafitau, Mosurs des Savages Amexicains, p. 44, etc. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



187 



may know even the minutest circumstances."* The heraldic 
signs for the personal name, and for the totem or family name 
alluded to by these authors, was somewhat in the nature of a 
phonetic hieroglyphic — the name being pronounced upon seeing 
the sign : they also executed treaties by tracing these figures as 
their signatures. These symbols were analogous to the Mex- 
ican method of representing the names of persons and of cities ; 
w T hen they represented a person, they painted a man or a hu- 
man head, and over it, a figure of some real object expressing 
the meaning of his name. 

The use of knotted cords, from which the method of com- 
municating ideas, by means of belts or strings of wampum, was 
probably derived, was common to many tribes. They were 
employed by the Tlascalans,f a nation adjacent to the Mexicans ; 
and traces of them may be perceived in the Mexican symbols 
of enumeration. According to ancient traditions collected in 
Quito, the quippos were known to the Puruays long before they 
were reduced by the Incas. The prou, or quippos were used 
in Chile ; " the subject treated of," says Molina, " was in- 
dicated by the color, and the knots designated the number or 
quantity." J They were most extensively employed, however, in 

* Charlevoix, Voyage, vol. i. p. 214; vol. ii. p. 17.. Vide Loskiel 
Hist. Mission Un. Brethren, etc., p. 25. 
f Clavig., vol. i. p. 411. 

I Molina, vol. ii. p. 24. Frezier adds, that they also employed 
persons to remember the history of the country, and to hand it down 
by tradition. Mr. Stevenson furnishes some original evidence of the 
use of the quippos by the Araucanians, in vol. i. p. 50, and mentions 
an instance of an old cacique, who was still able to translate them. 
Vol. ii. p. 269. 



188 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Peru, where each province had its knots, to assist the memory 
in the preservation of its annals and its traditions. Garcillasso 
gives a minute description of these records. They were com- 
posed of various things, he says, but most commonly of threads 
of different colors, suspended from a string, in the manner of a 
fringe. Each color h ad its particular signification, — the knots 
designated numbers, and by an arbitrary arrangement of both, 
the meaning of which was fixed, a complicated method of ex- 
pression and calculation was attained.* These records were 
placed under the direction of the " Quipucamayus," or masters 
of accounts, who composed a numerous body of public Registers. 
As the quippos were deficient in their power, of expression in a 
connected form, and suggested merely isolated ideas, it became 
the duty of these officers to study their meaning and to transmit 
it by tradition. Thus, were preserved lists of the tributes which 
the Incas received, military rolls, the number of births and 
deaths and other statistical facts, laws, customs, the order of 
ceremonies, festivals and sacrifices, traditionary songs, religious 
fables, and all the events of their history :f it may be added that 
the quippos were considered as sacred. 

In North America, according to Lafitau and Charlevoix, 
knots were also known ; but the use of the ivampum as a spe- 
cies of record was of more extensive prevalence. The Dela- 
wares, upon one occasion, seem to have kept an account of 
time, by putting a bead of wampum every year on a belt 

* Vega, vol. i. pp. 293, 294 ; vol. ii. p. 561. 

| "The knots serve for divers passages and arguments of history ; 
and giving them only the subject, they will run on with a history as 
currently as a reader can with his book. — Bias Valera, in Vega. vol. 
ii. p. 561. Eng. Trans. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



189 



kept for that purpose,* and among many tribes, in the delivery 
of speeches, and the execution of treaties, belts were given, and 
preserved to perpetuate the remembrance of the transaction.f 
The Hurons and Iroquois had " in their public treasuries belts 
of porcelain in which were wrought figures," by which means 
they recorded events. The beads of which they consisted, 
were of different colors, and were pierced and strung in such 
a manner, as to form a variety of figures and characters, under- 
stood by those to whose charge they were committed. As in 
Peru the colors had particular significations. The brown or 
deep violet was the most valuable, and intended something of 
serious import, white was the color of peace, red the emblem 
of war. Thus if it were designed to give warning of an ap- 
proaching evil, or to send an earnest remonstrance, a black belt 
was delivered ; if to declare war, a red belt wrought with the 
figure of a hatchet in white ; if to signify peace, a black belt, 
with two hands joined in white. It appears that formerly other 
articles were used for this purpose besides beads ; and like the 
quippos of Peru the wampum was considered as sacred.f 
" These strings and belts of wampum," says Loskiel, " are also 
documents by which the Indians remember the chief articles of 
the treaties, made either between themselves or the white peo- 
ple. They refer to them as to public records, carefully preserv- 
ing them in a chest, made for that purpose. At certain seasons, 
they meet to study their meaning, and to renew the ideas, of 

* Beatty's Journal. 

| Smith's Hist. New-York, vol. i. p. 74. The wampum was also 
used as a medium of exchange. Charlevoix's Voyage, vol. i. pp. 
179, 180 ; vol. ii. p. 174. 

I Loskiel, p. 28. 



190 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



which they were an emblem and confirmation." " And as it is 
their custom to admit even the young boys, who are related to 
the chiefs, to these assemblies, they may become early acquaint- 
ed with all the affairs of the state, and thus the contents of 
their documents are transmitted to posterity, and cannot easily 
be forgotten."* 

5. Traditions. There is a great conformity in all the my- 
thological traditions of the civilized nations : and even in those 
of the savage tribes, which appear to be ancient, there are 
general features of resemblance. Amid various details, they 
most usually imply a migration from some other country, con- 
tain distinct allusions to a deluge, and attribute the knowledge 
of such arts as they possess, to some fabulous teacher, in remote 
ages. In relation to the Indian origin, they appear to agree, 
with a few exceptions, in establishing that the course of 
population has been from the west to the east, the direction 
varying in some measure, according to the locality of particular 
tribes. With the great race called the Algic, or Algonquin- 
Lenape, there was a tradition of the original appearance or 
creation of the earth from water, and of a subsequent general 
inundation. According to Charlevoix, the Iroquois believed in 
a general deluge, from which no person escaped, after which, 
to repeople the earth, beasts were changed into men. The 
Pawnees say that eight men were originally created by the 
Great Spirit, from whom all mankind were descended ; and 
another tribe, besides a deluge, believed in the existence of an 
age of fire, which destroyed every human being, except one 
man and one woman, who were saved in a cavern. In South 
America, the Remos on the banks of the Ucayali suppose 



* Loskiel, p. 28. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



191 



themselves to have been created out of the earth, by a man of 
miraculous powers. In Brazil, besides the usual belief in a 
general deluge, there was a tradition that in ancient times, 
before the age of violence, there were two persons, one of 
whom was called Zome, — in Paraguay, Payzume. Payzome is 
represented as an elderly man with a long beard, and who wore 
white garments. He came from the country of the Guaranies, 
that is, the east, before the days of their grandfathers, and 
wherever he sojourned, he taught the natives to clothe them- 
selves, to live in houses, the use of fire, and to cultivate the 
mandioc. Their forefathers, as the fable ran, quarrelled with 
these benefactors and shot their arrows at them ; but the arrows 
turned back, and slew those by whom they had been aimed ; 
and Payzome fled to the north, promising to visit them again, 
and leaving his miraculous footsteps imprinted upon the shore.* 
The nations of the Tamanac race say that Amalivaca, the 
parent of the Tamanacs, arrived in their country in a bark, at 
the time of the great deluge, which is called the age of water.f 
Amalivaca, sailing in his canoe, made the figures on the painted 
rocks of Encamarada, — some blocks of granite forming a spe- 
cies of cavern are denominated his house, — and a lar^e stone 
of regular form, his drum or instrument of music. He had a 
brother, who assisted him in giving the surface of the earth its 
present form. His daughters were fond of travelling, and he 
broke their legs to prevent them. After having regulated all 
things on that side of the great water, he embarked and re- 

* Southey's Hist. Brazil, vol. i. p. 229. 

f Humboldt's Pers. Nar., vol. v. pp. 596, 597, etc. ; vol. iv. pp. 
473, 474. 



192 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



turned to the other shore. The name of Amalivaca is found 
spread over a region of more than five thousand square leagues, 
and he is termed the " Father of Mankind," or our " Great 
Grandfather," even by the Caribbees, who, however, style him 
Amarivaca. At this deluge, all the Tamanacs were destroyed 
except one man and one woman, w T ho saved themselves on a 
mountain near the banks of the Asivera, and who, casting be- 
hind them, over their heads, the fruits of the Mauritia palm-tree, 
saw the seeds contained in them produce men and women, who 
repeopled the earth. These traditions are current among the 
Tamanacs, the Maypures of the Great Cataracts, the Indians of 
the Rio Erevato, and all the tribes of the Upper Orinoco. 

In Chile, on a mountain called Theghin, or Theg-theghin, 
(which means, to crackle or sparkle like fire,) the aborigines 
say that their early progenitors escaped from the deluge. There 
is a word in common use among them, says Molina,* meaning 
" the great ancestor," or " our great ancestor," or " the re- 
nowned," which is hardly to be distinguished from Shem ; 
" Febres spells it Them, but as the th is frequently pronounced 
it would sound like Chem." 

The Muyscas, the ancient inhabitants of New Grenada, re- 
lated that in the remotest times, they lived like barbarians; 
when from the plains to the east of the Cordilleras, there came 
an old man with a long flowing beard, who was known by three 
appellations, one of which was Bochica. He taught them the 
arts, the worship of the sun, the cultivation of the earth, and to 
clothe themselves. His wife Huythaca, who was extremely 
beautiful, and less benevolent than her husband, swelled the 



* Molina, vol. ii. p. 400. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



193 



river and caused the valley of Bogota to be inundated. All the 
natives perished, save a few who were preserved on the moun- 
tains. Huythaca was driven by Bochica from the earth, and 
became the moon ;* and the old man, after draining the valley, 
by breaking the rocks which enclosed it, retired to the holy 
valley of Iraca, where he lived austerely for two thousand years. 

In ancient times, says Garcillasso, the whole country (of 
Peru) was occupied by natives of brutal habits, who went na- 
ked, subsisted upon roots and herbs, and lived in caverns. The 
Sun, perceiving their degraded condition, was touched with com- 
passion, and sent from heaven his two children, Manco Capac 
and Mama Oello, to instruct them in the arts of humanity and 
religion, to teach them to cultivate the earth, to build houses, 
and weave garments.f In another tradition it was said, that 
after the deluge there came from the lake Titicaca, a being or 
god, whom they styled Viracocha, who first went to Tiahuanaco, 
and thence to Cuzco where he commenced the work of civiliza- 
tion.J The Inca Viracocha, who was named after this deity in 
consequence of a dream in which the god appeared to him, 
described him as having a white shining countenance, a long 
beard, and flowing garments. 

In Mexico, all improvements were ascribed to Quetzalcoatl, 
a white and bearded man, who, clothed in a black robe, ap- 
peared from Panuco, upon the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. 
He was high-priest and legislator, and instructed the inhabi- 
tants of Tula and Cholula, where he was held in extreme ven- 
eration. His was the golden age and era of peace ; he in- 

* Hum. Res., vol. i. pp. 72, etc. f Vega, vol. i. p. 34. 

I Acosta, in Purchas. 

25 



194 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



vented the art of cutting gems, and casting metals, and taught 
them the ceremonies of their religion, and the regulation of the 
seasons and calendar. The great spirit Tezcatlipoca offered 
him a drink which made him immortal, and inspired him with 
a desire of visiting the distant country, Tlapallan ; he then 
went to the east, and disappeared upon the coast. 

In Chiapa, it is said, there was a tradition of one Votan, 
who was present at the building of the great tower, when man- 
kind received different languages ; and who was then com- 
manded to people and make a division of the lands of Anahuac. 
In one of the Mexican picture writings, there is a delineation of 
the Mexican Noah or Coxcox, who with his wife was saved in 
a canoe, and finally, upon the subsidence of the flood, was landed 
upon a mountain called Colhuacan. Their children were born 
dumb, and received different languages from a dove upon a lofty 
tree. The natives of Mechoacan had a tradition, which, if it be 
correctly reported, accords most singularly with the narrative 
of the Noachic deluge. They say, that at the time of the great 
deluge, Tezpi embarked with his wife and children, — taking with 
them various animals, and several seeds of fruits, — in a calli or 
house. When the waters began to withdraw, he sent out a 
bird called aura, which remained feeding upon carrion. He 
then sent out other birds that did not return, except the hum- 
ming-bird, which brought a small branch in its mouth.* 

6. Methods of interment. The superstitious reverence of the 
Indians for the dead, has tended to preserve a great uniformity in 
their methods of interment. No better evidence of the depth and 

* Clavig,, vol. i. pp. 87, 106, 244 ; vol. ii. p. 204. Hum. Res., vol. 
i. p. 29 ; vol. ii. pp. 64, 65, 66. Del Rio, pp. 31, 54. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 195 

power of this feeling can be exhibited, than in the custom which 
was oftentimes practised, of interring the deceased in their very 
dwellings. The Mexicans frequently buried the dead in the 
courts of their houses ; some of the ancient and modern tribes 
of South America used their houses as places of interment, and 
we may trace the same practice among the Charibs, the Choc- 
taws, Creeks, Chickasaws and other southern tribes of North 
America. The same anxious desire to preserve the remains of 
the departed may be perceived in the habit of embalming, which 
was customary with such nations as possessed sufficient know- 
ledge for that purpose. The custom of interring or exposing 
the bodies upon scaffolds, until the flesh could be cleansed from 
the bones, which existed among many tribes, maybe attributed 
to the same motive. But the most striking conformity in fune- 
ral rites may be observed, in the peculiar position which was 
given to the body upon interment. The Mexicans placed it in 
the tomb " in a sitting posture the same disposition of the 
corpse is observed in the Peruvian graves and huacas, and in the 
ancient graves of the United States : it was common also to the 
Patagonians, the Guaranies, the Puris, Coroados, Tupinambas, 
Botocudos and Mongoyos of Brazil, and the Muyscas of Xew 
Grenada ; to the Charibs, the Choctaws, the Creeks, the Ar- 
kansas, the Alibamous, the Omahaws, the Mandans, the Iro- 
quois, and to most of the numerous families of the great and 
wide-spread Algonquin-Lenape race.* 

* King and Fitzroy's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 155. Dobrizhoffer, vol. 
i. p. 139. Southey's Hist. Brazil, vol. i. p. 24S. Spix and Martius. 
vol. ii. p. 250. Henderson's Brazil, pp. 99, 109, 305. Arch. Am., vol. 
i. p. 378. Adair, p. 1S2. Charlevoix's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 142. Col- 



196 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



7. The maize. No fact is more remarkable in the history 
of Indian civilization, than the extensive diffusion and cultiva- 
tion of the maize. In South America it is found, together with 
other useful plants, in regions where it cannot be indigenous. 
In the other continent, though it is manifestly the native pro- 
duction of a warmer climate, it was cultivated by tribes inhab- 
iting very high latitudes. In Massachusetts, there was a clear 
and distinct tradition, that it had been obtained from the "south- 
west;" and in New York, it was said to be the gift of "the 
southern Indians, who received their seed from a people who 
resided still further south and before its introduction they fed 
upon roots and the bark of trees.* s It cannot be denied, that in 
South America the progress of civilization may be traced from 
north to south, and in North America in the contrary direction. 
Every thing seems to point to the plains of Peru, and of New 

den. Van Der Donck's New Netherlands, in Coll. N. Y. Hist Soc, 
vol. i. N. S. p. 201. This subject attracted the attention of Dr. Mor- 
ton, in his Crania Americana, from which work several instances 
noted in the text have been taken. Perhaps some clue to the origin 
of this curious custom, may be gathered from the hint contained in 
the following extract from Charlevoix. Believing, as the Indians 
generally did, that death was but a passage to another life, and as it 
were, a second birth, it is possible that the position of the corpse, 
when placed in the grave, was originally intended to be emblematic 
of their ideas upon that subject. " The dead body," says that au- 
thor, "dressed in the finest robe, with the face painted, the arms and 
all that belonged to the deceased by his side, is exposed at the door 
of the cabin, in the posture it is to be laid in the tomb ; and this pos- 
ture is the same, in many places, as that of the child before its birth." 

* Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. hi. p. 219. Van Der Donck's New 
Netherlands, in Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc, vol. i. p. 137. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



197 



Spain as the two radiating points of the arts, and perhaps as 
the sources of all the aboriginal population.* 

7. Customs. At the time of the discovery, the smoking of 
tobacco was a custom prevalent among nearly all the Indians of 
both Americas ; and the sacred character of the calumet, with 
the ritual ceremony of smoking to the sun and to the cardinal 
points, was almost equally general. The practice of cutting 
off the heads of those enemies who had fallen in battle, and of 
scalping ; the habits of eradicating the beard, shaving various 
parts of the head, and of cranial compression, were common to 
many native families of both continents ; and finally, in the 
institution of clan -ship, observable in South, as well as in 
North America ;f in the domestication of the dog, and the use 

* It may be interesting to see the extension of the use of copper. 
The Peruvians, Mexicans, and perhaps the Mound-builders, were 
acquainted with the art of hardening, and fabricating instruments of 
that metal. Acosta says the Indians used copper weapons. — Lib. iv. 
c. 3. The natives of Chile, says Molina, made use " of the bell-metal 
copper which is very hard; of this they made axes, hatchets and 
other edged tools." — Molina, vol. ii. p. 21. Fernando de Soto saw 
axes of copper in Florida, "which they said was mingled with gold." 
— A Relation of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida, etc., p. 75, 
cited in Am. Phi. Tr., vol. iv. p. 202, — and Garcillasso de la Vega 
confirms this statement. Captain Smith, Verazzano, and other early 
voyagers observed articles of wrought copper in general use for 
ornaments .and other purposes, by the Indians along the North Amer- 
ican coa;st. The Caracoli of the Charibs is thought to have been 
composed of copper, and silver and gold. — Sheldon, in Arch. Am., 
vol. i. p. 398. The inhabitants of New England appear to have pos- 
sessed and manufactured " chains, collars and drinking cups" of cop- 
per. — Brierton, in Smith's Travels, vol. i. p. 107. 

| DobrizhofFer, vol. ii. p. 440. ^ 



198 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



of that animal in sacrifices; in the custom of tatooing; in the 
semi-mythological method of explaining eclipses ; in the prac- 
tice of piercing the lips and ears, and wearing ornaments in the 
apertures ; in the preparation of intoxicating liquors from native 
products, and in the use of vapor-baths, — we discover analogies, 
not universal, but, in connection with other proofs, sufficiently 
forcible to favor a belief in the relationship and common de- 
scent of all the tribes, barbarous and cultivated. The most 
usual objection opposed to this opinion, is the great diversity of 
the native languages, but it is just such a diversity as might be 
anticipated, were the epoch of the dispersion of this race placed 
at a very early period : while, on the other hand, the general 
resemblance of all the languages, in their structure, is explicable 
only upon the supposition of their common origin at some such 
remote age. Upon instituting a comparison on other points, 
the great family likeness that prevails in all the customs and 
institutions, from the Fuegians to the Esquimaux, can be owing 
neither to accident, nor to the operation of the same natural 
causes and influences ; it is often arbitrary, and unless traced 
to an ancient affiliation, exhibits a most extraordinary phe- 
nomenon. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



199 



CHAPTER III. 

ABORIGINAL MIGRATIONS. 

In the examination of the ruins in North America, the 
traditions connected with them, and their localities, those in the 
southern portion of the continent present undoubted claims to 
the highest antiquity. We there trace the strongest and most 
decisive marks of a primitive people, in monuments and institu- 
tions of a primeval character closely allied to the type of 
ancient civilization upon the old continent. Conceding Asia 
to have been the birth-place of man, the first seats of a colony 
from the eastern hemisphere, must be sought upon the shores of 
the ocean. The claims of Florida to this preference have al- 
ready been examined. On the west and north-west the ruins 
in the United States are limited, and nowhere along the shores 
of the Pacific until we reach Mexico, are there any relics of 
antiquity ; but as we penetrate further to the south, we find 
these ancient memorials increase, until arriving at that region, 
which stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, 
we find a territory, teeming with the vestiges of a great people, 
rich in stupendous monuments, and abounding in proofs of an 
ancient, and a 'primitive population. Here, therefore, are we 
compelled to place the first abode of the civilized nations — the 
original centre, whence population w T as diffused and radiated, 
through the immense regions of the north. But here w T e per- 
ceive, also, traces of many national changes, revolutions and 



200 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



migrations, the precise order, succession and history of which, 
it is impossible to indicate. Two distinct epochs, however, 
may be observed, denoted by some peculiar features in arch- 
itecture, institutions, and traditions. The first, which has 
sometimes been called the age of the Toltecs, was characterized 
by many of the distinctive forms of primitive civilization and by 
a mild religion. In this era the vast terraced pyramids of 
Cholula and Teotihuacan were erected, and even then were in 
existence, those mythological fables, and those systems of 
astronomy, and hieroglyphical painting, which were common 
to most of the nations of Anahuac, Guatemala and Yucatan. 
The ruins of Palenque, Copan, Mitlan and Uxmal, not only 
present many mutual analogies, but are closely related by 
numerous characteristic features to those of Mexico ; they ap- 
pear however to be the most ancient, or rather to be the pro- 
ductions of the most ancient people, and not to have been of 
Aztec origin. When the Toltecs, who led the van of the great 
Aztec migration from the north, settled in Mexico, they are 
said to have found it inhabited by the Olmecas or Olmees, a 
nation to which the learned Siguenza ascribed the construction 
of the pyramids of Teotihuacan. At the south, the Mixtecas 
and Zapotecas, who spoke original languages, and in whose 
vicinity the ruins of Mitlan are found, appear also to have 
been ancient nations. The Toltecs in their next movement 
passed into Guatemala, which was occupied by civilized tribes, 
speaking idioms unlike the Aztec ; and there left traces of 
their invasion in some remains of their language. They do 
not seem however to have proceeded into Yucatan, for the 
Maya tongue which pervades that peninsula, and penetrates 
even into Guatemala, contains no Aztec words. It appears 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



201 



clear, therefore, that even before the arrival of the Toltecs 
there were many civilized nations inhabiting this territory; and 
yet we are forcibly struck with the resemblance which existed 
between the arts, religion and institutions of these original in- 
habitants, and those of the northern invaders. For example, 
in Yucatan, where there cannot be the least suspicion of a 
Toltec migration, the ancient Maya calendar, like the Mexican, 
was divided into eighteen months of twenty days ; as appears 
from the ruins of Uxmal, some of the astronomical symbols, and 
four of the hieroglyphical signs of the days are identical with 
the Mexican ; and the day seems to have been divided into 
eight intervals.* The Mayas had also their picture writings 
called " Analthes," which were written upon bark, folded up 
into books like those of the Aztecs. Their mythological tra- 
ditions were somewhat similar, and their great legislator Zam- 
na, like Quetzalcoatl, appeared from the east. The greatest 
dissimilarity exhibited, is in the style of architecture, but the 
Yucatanese displayed a preference for the pyramid in their 
sacred edifices, and as the Aztec, it was built so as to corres- 
pond with the cardinal points. The same method of sacrificing 
was common to both nations; and in the Maya delineations of 
the human countenance, may be observed the receding facial 
angle, prominent nose and protruding lip, which are remarkable 
in the paintings of the Aztecs. Waldeck has instituted a compa- 
rison between the ruins of Palenque and Uxmal, and demon- 
strated many features of resemblance-! Del Rio also observed, 
that the identity of the ancient inhabitants of Yucatan and Pa- 
lenque is evidently proved by the strong analogy of their cus- 



* Waldeck, p. 39. 

26 



t Ibid. p. 19, etc. 



202 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



toms, buildings, and acquaintance with the arts, — a conclusion 
which conforms to a tradition of a migration into Yucatan from 
the west.* The Chiapanese claimed to be the most ancient of 
nations, and yet their calendar, like the Mexican, was divided 
into eighteen months of twenty days ; and, in common with the 
Mixtecas and Zapotecas, they used hieroglyphical paintings, 
and possessed a mythology somewhat similar to the Aztech It 
would seem, therefore, that in the first age population was dif- 
fused through the regions of the north, to return by one of those 
refluxes, which were common in the early periods of history. 
Accordingly, the second epoch was marked by the appearance 
of numerous tribes, which, during the long series of ages they 
had been separated from their parent stock, appear to have 
acquired a fierce, unruly and warlike disposition, and some of 
them to have fallen away in a measure from their ancient 
civilization, though they had still preserved a striking resem- 
blance to their ancestral nations. These tribes, it is conceived, 
were the authors of the mounds, and mural remains in the United 
States. Their migrations were recorded in the hieroglyphical 
paintings, and, according to the received computations, occurred 
at successive dates, ranging from the middle of the seventh to 
the end of the twelfth century. The Toltecs, the first of these 
bands, left their former residence, called Huehuetapallan, A. D. 
544. They proceeded in a southerly direction, and, after a 
journey of one hundred and four years, arrived in the neighbor- 
hood of the city of Mexico ; where, after a brief interval, they 
founded the city of Tula or Tollan. They brought with them 
paintings, representing the various events of their long pilgrim - 

* Del Rio, p. 8. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



203 



age, from which the astrologer Huematzin there compiled his 
" Divine Book" in the year 660, containing, besides the history 
of the nation, the principal features of their knowledge and in- 
stitutions.* In the year 1170 appeared the Chichimecs, and in 
1178 the Nahualtecs. The Acolhues and Aztecs ended this 
series of migrations in the year 1196, having proceeded like- 
wise from a northern country, denominated Aztlan. All of 
these tribes, inclusive of the Toltecs, were of the same descent, 
and spoke the same language, and had occupied the same terri- 
tory. This identity of origin appeared also in the similarity of 
their institutions and religion, and in their close physiognomical 
resemblance. 

The etymology of Aztlan appears to denote a country of 
water, a topographical description of their former residence, 
confirmed by the history of their migration, as represented in 
the hieroglyphicai manuscripts, — particularly that at Berlin. 
We there perceive indications of that territory in the delinea- 
tion of marshy lands ; prints of feet are also observed, exhibit- 
ing the approach of hostile bands, — arrows shot from one bank 
of a river to another, and combats between two different peo- 
ple, — the one armed with the Aztec shield, the other naked 
and without armor. In another of these pictures, the conflicts 
are represented as taking place with a savage race clothed in 

* Humboldt's Res., vol. i. p. 205. Hum. Pol. E., vol. L p. 100. 
The name of Anahuac applied by the Mexicans to the valley of 
Mexico, signifies "near to the water." The Aztecs were said to 
have brought the name of their former country with them, and this 
designation possibly relates likewise to their ancient locality. — 
Clavig., vol. i. pi 1. 



204 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



skins. The paintings imply generally, that these migrations 
were made from the north, and it became an object with those 
interested in the investigation of the origin of these nations, to 
discover some vestiges in that direction, by which their route 
might be traced. Accordingly, it was soon ascertained that 
some tribes in the vicinity of the Rio Gila retained remnants of 
a former civilization ;* and, in fact, upon the banks of that river 
the missionaries succeeded in finding the ruins of an ancient 
city, which they denominated £; Casas ' Grand es." These re- 
mains covered an area of more than a square league, and they 
seemed analogous to the edifices constructed by the Mexicans, 
at the south. This was then decided to be the second abode of 
the Aztecs, as represented in the paintings ; the third was 
readily found nearer to Mexico, in the former intendancy of 
New Biscay ; and as to the first, it was supposed to exist 
somewhere near the shores of lake Timpanogo. By this inter- 
pretation, the original country of the Aztecs was placed far to 
the west • but a more accurate knowledge of the regions in the 
vicinity, and to the north and east of the Rio Gila, has demon- 
strated the unsoundness of this conjecture. 

That civilization, in diverging from its central position in 
Mexico, was carried along the shores of the Pacific, is highly 
probable; indeed, traces of the Mexican language have been 
perceived among the maritime tribes occupying very high lati- 
tudes. But, in proceeding north from the Rio Gila, these ves- 
tiges become faint ; and it is certain that, in the whole extent 
of that region, no ruins have been discovered that indicate the 
former locality of a cultivated people.! The very character of 

* Venega's Hist. California, vol. i. p. 53 : vol. ii. 184. 
f Gallatin, in Arch. Am., vol. ii. p. 146. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



205 



the country is opposed to such an idea; for, north of the Pvio 
Gila, there stretches an immense sandy desert, of too sterile a 
character for the subsistence of an agricultural population. To 
the east of the mountains, however, and in a more direct line of 
communication with the United States, there are ancient re- 
mains which seem to connect those of our western country with 

0 

the Mexican. There can be little doubt that, if the existence 
of the monuments in the United States, and their decided ana- 
logy to those of New Spain, had been known to those who first 
interpreted the Aztec paintings, they would have united in 
placing ancient Aztlan in some of those rich valleys of the West 
w T here the memorials of an exiled race still abound. 

In the further pursuit of this inquiry, it may be useful to 
inquire whether any of the Indian traditions tend to elucidate 
the question of the origin of the mounds and mural remains. 
The southern Indians state, that when their ancestors migrated 
from the west, they found these ruins deserted, and that the 
tribes which they dispossessed had also observed them, upon their 
first occupation of that country. The Creeks, Cherokees and 
Seminoles are all united, in attributing their erection to the an- 
cient and unknown inhabitants, without any definite tradition 
upon the subject.* Indeed, their origin is an entire mystery to 
most of the present Indian tribes, — a circumstance by no means 
surprising, when we reflect that they were not acquainted with 
any accurate and permanent method of recording events. 
There is an old Delaware tradition, which, whatever may be its 
other claims to consideration, merits attention, as being the only 
detailed narrative connected with the history of the Mound- 
builders, and for its congruity with the traditions of the 

* Bartram's Travels, p. 365. 



206 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Iroquois. They related, that the great race of the Lenni- 
Lenape, many centuries ago, inhabited a country far to the 
west. Upon migrating eastwardly, they found the territory 
east of the Mississippi occupied by a numerous and civilized 
people, whom they denominate the Alligewi, — and who lived 
in fortified towns. The Indians made an application to pass 
over the river, and through their country, to the eastward ; 
which request, though at first refused, was subsequently acceded 
to, under directions to make no settlements until they had 
passed the Alligewi boundaries. In accordance w T ith this per- 
mission, that tribe made the attempt, but during the passage of 
the river was attacked, and driven back. Upon this a league 
was struck with the Iroquois, who had also emigrated from the 
west, and reached the river at a higher point ; and the com- 
bined forces of the allied tribes assailed the Alligewi so fiercely, 
that, after suffering severe losses and numerous defeats, to 
escape extermination, they finally fled down the shores of the 
Mississippi. The vast and beautiful territory, thus abandoned 
to the conquerors, was divided between them; the Iroquois 
selecting the district upon the borders of the great lakes, and 
the Lenni-Lenape, an extensive tract of land lying further to 
the south and towards the Atlantic. One of the Iroquois 
tribes, the Senecas, relate that at a very distant era, the 
country about the lakes was occupied by a powerful and 
populous nation, who were destroyed by their ancestors* 
Several of the most beautiful, and the richest locations of 
the six nations, are stated by them to have been inhabited and 
cultivatedt before their arrival, by another people whose burial 

* Yates and Moulton's Hist. New-York, p. 40. 
t Life of Brant, vol. ii. p. 487. Ibid. vol. ii. 486. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



207 



places they distinguish from their own. The tradition they 
have received of these ancient inhabitants from their fathers, 
states that they formerly occupied a wide extent of territory, 
and were eventually extirpated by the Iroquois, after long and 
bloody wars. It is added in detail, that the last fortification 
was attacked by four of the tribes, who were repulsed ; but the 
Mohawks having been called in, their combined power was 
irresistible, the town was taken, and all the besieged destroyed. 
The conformity of these traditions to the vestiges of civilization 
at the west, and to the Mexican narratives, as contained in their 
paintings, entitles them to more weight than they would other- 
wise deserve. They proceed also from nations, which from 
their numbers, their extensive diffusion over a wide region, and 
some features in their customs and character, appear to be 
among the first and most ancient occupants, after the country 
was abandoned by its former inhabitants. The Algonquin- 
Lenape and Iroquois seem to have been borne upon the first 
wave of that tide of migration from the west, which probably 
swept before it the Aztecs and Toltecs ; and the former were 
precisely in that position, where we should expect to find the 
foremost of the invading hordes, — at the east, and along the 
shores of the Atlantic. It is unnecessary to examine minutely 
the native traditions, to prove the direction of these migratory 
movements; for no fact is more clearly established, than the'u 
universal agreement in tracing their origin to the west — o 
south-west. These facts, in connection with those which have 
been exhibited, as proving the common origin of all the ab- 
origines, favor the conclusion that the original source of popu- 
lation is to be placed in Mexico and Central America ; and the 
vestiges of civilization observed among the Natchez and other 



20S 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



nations, the traditions of a period, when many tribes were more 
cultivated and numerous than at present ; the evidences which 
exist of important alterations in their dress,* customs and reli- 
gion, and of a declension in the arts, since the discovery, all 
tend to confirm this idea. The exceptions, if any, which exist, 
are chiefly confined to some western and northern tribes, to 
which, an Asiatic origin by Behring's straits and the Alentian 
islands, may with some plausibility be ascribed. 

South America. In endeavoring to trace out some facts in 
the ancient history of Peru, it is essential to guard against an 
implicit reliance upon the authenticity of all those narratives, 
which have been furnished by Garcillasso de la Vega. To ex- 
alt the dignity and glory of those " Children of the Sun," whose 
descendant he claimed to be, appears to have been the promi- 
nent purpose of this historian, and with artist-like skill every 
object has been made subservient to the main design. Though 
he admits that the history of ancient Peru was divided into 
two ages, in the first of which the edifices at Tiahuanaco were 
erected, he yet denounces the state of society then existing, as 
barbarous, and attributes all civilization to the advent of the 
first Inca. Well aware, however, that many of the tribes con- 
quered by those sovereigns, were not at the time of their sub- 
jugation, in so degraded a condition as he has drawn of the 
first age, he concedes that some of the natives were more culti- 
vated, and amongst other admissions, that they possessed a more 
rational religion, and worshipped such things as seemed to be 
of use and profit, as fire and the maize. And yet in the recital 

* The savages of the Northern America, as their ancestors re- 
port^ have always gone clothed, even before they had any commerce 
with the Europeans.-' — Hennepin, vol. ii. p. 79. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



209 



of the tradition of Manco Capac, we are told that he introduced 
the worship of the Sun, the cultivation of the soil, — and his 
wife, the weaving of cloths. From an examination of the 
contents of many of the huacas, which existed in districts un- 
conquered until a very late period, there can be little doubt that 
there were many tribes who possessed these arts, independent of 
the Incas ; and the ruins of cities and other monuments of an 
epoch probably before the age of the Incas, confirm this view. 
The huacas on the plains of Del Chimu, near Truxillo, were 
built by the subjects of the Grand Chimu, a prince reduced by 
Yupanqui, the son of Pachacutec the Ninth Inca : and yet the 
articles exhumed from these mounds, indicate customs and arts 
analogous to those of the Peruvians proper ; and more treasures 
and curious antiquities have been found in them, than in those 
of any other of the Peruvian valleys.* How is this inconsis- 
tency to be reconciled 1 Are we to consider the tradition of 
Manco Capac as an idle invention of later times 1 So bold an 
idea could scarcely be ventured ; but as it has already appear- 
ed, that the same ancient tradition under other forms was com- 
mon to many of the aboriginal nations, so, even Garcillasso 
affords evidence of its existence among the very tribes he brands 
as uncivilized. The Indians to the south and west of Cuzco, 
he observes, say that after the waters of the deluge had subsided, 
a certain man appeared in the country of Tiahuanaco. He 
divided the world into four parts which he gave respectively 
to four kings, the first of whom was Manco Capac, who pro- 
ceeded to the north, arrived in the valley of Cuzco, founded a 
city, and subjugated, and instructed the neighboring people.f 

* Stevenson, vol. ii. p. 121. Ruschenberger, p. 381. 
f Vega, vol. i. pp. 39. 40. 

27 



210 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



The Indians who lived to the east and north of Cuzco, he adds, 
report another origin. They say, that at the commencement of 
the world, four men and four women who were brothers and 
sisters, proceeded from windows in certain rocks near Cuzco. 
These windows were three in number : the first of the brothers 
was Manco Capac, and his wife Mama Oello. Now it is evi- 
dent from both these traditions, that the epoch of the appear- 
ance of Manco Capac was carried back to the time of the 
deluge, and it is not surprising that, as the same historian in- 
forms us, some curious Spaniards considered these fables as 
referring to that great event, and " to the four men and four 
women whom God saved from the universal deluge." 

The tradition of Manco Capac, therefore, seems most evi- 
dently to have been a primitive one, of which some enterprising 
Peruvian sovereign judiciously availed himself, to secure the 
allegiance of his new subjects : indeed this author admits that 
Manco Capac was some ambitious "Indian" In the early 
ages a divine origin was claimed by many lines of sovereigns, 
and the title of " Children of the Sun" was not peculiar to the 
Peruvian kings. We are to consider civilization, then, as 
having existed in South America, prior to the foundation of the 
empire of the Incas. It has already been traced over a vast 
region by the ruins of ancient monuments still visible, and it 
appears to have flourished principally along the borders of the 
Pacific. 

It is an interesting question, whether any traces of connec- 
tion can be discovered, on the north, between the cultivated 
nations beyond the Isthmus of Darien, and those of South Ame- 
rica. Was the chain broken, in this direction — was the conti- 
nuity of civilization interrupted by the intervention of barbarous 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



211 



tribes ? Clearly not, if we are to credit the early accounts. 
Indeed, at the conquest, the Spaniards found in Panama large 
Indian towns governed by Zaques or Princes ; at Darien and 
other places, they discovered a semi-civilized population, who 
cultivated the soil, were clothed in cotton garments, and w 7 ere 
rich in gold, pearls and precious stones ; and here they received 
the first intimation of the existence of the empire of the Incas. 
Bias Valera* says that the Antis, a tribe who worshipped the 
Sun and sacrificed human beings, had migrated from Mexico, 
peopled all the countries of Darien and Panama, and thence 
passed along the mountains of New T Granada. A curious cor- 
roboration of this fact is afforded in the precise resemblance 
between one of the Indian dances still practised at Angostura, 
on the Magdalena, about six degrees north latitude, and another 
customary in Yucatan. 

In Yucatan, says Clavigero, they fixed in the earth a tree or 
strong post, fifteen or twenty feet high, from the top of which, 
according to the number of dancers, they suspended twenty or 
more small cords, all long and of different colors. When each 
dancer had taken hold of the end of his cord, they all began to 
dance to the sound of musical instruments, crossing each other 
with great dexterity, until they formed a beautiful network 
of the cords around the tree, on which the colors appeared 
checkered in admirable order. Whenever the cords, on ac- 
count of the twisting, became so short that the dancers could 
hardly keep hold of them with their arms raised up, by crossing 
each other again, they undid and unwound them from the tree.f 
The following is the description of the Indian dance at Angostu- 



* In Vega, vol. i. p. 25. 



t Clavigero, vol. i. p. 401. 



212 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



ra, — " the pole-dance, — so called from the production of a pole 
about ten feet high, and about four or five inches in circumfer- 
ence. At the head is a round ball or truck, immediately 
under which are fastened twelve different-colored and various- 
striped pieces of French tape, about half an inch broad, and 
about twelve feet, each piece, in length. The pole being kept 
perpendicularly supported, each Indian lad lays hold of a line 
of tape, which is drawn to its full length, the whole forming a 
large circle around the pole, one regularly covering his com- 
panion in front. At a signal from the chief, the music strikes 
up a favorite tune, and the circle becomes in motion, half of the 
performers facing to the right about. On the second signal, 
each step off, and meeting each other, pass on in succession 
right and left, and so continue, until the twelve lines of tape 
are entwined in checked order, from the top to the bottom of 
the pole, and so regular is the appearance, that it would be 
difficult to find a flaw or mistake in it. A halt for the moment 
takes place, and the same process is renewed to unwind the 
tape, which is as regularly completed as before, by inverting 
the dance and leading from left to right."* But, still further 
to the south, we find other analogies. The Araucanians wor- 
shipped the Sun and Moon, and their sacrifices were similar to 
those usual in New Spain. They consisted in opening the breast, 
and tearing out the heart of the victim, while yet alive, and in 
sprinkling the blood from the heart towards the sun.f Vega 
describes an analogous custom among some of the Peruvian 

* Hippisley's Narrative of the Expedition to the Rivers Orinoco 
and Apure, p. 312. 

t Frezier's Voyage, p. 64. Graham's Chile, appendix, pp. 427, 
429. . Molina, vol. ii. p. 71. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



213 



tribes, before the era of the Incas. The method was, he says, 
to open the body while the victims were still alive, to take out 
the heart, which was burnt, and with the smoking blood to 
besmear the idols.* It may be added, that the Mexicans and 
Peruvians used the same kind of swinging bridges, which have 
been considered as peculiar to Peru. 

The Olmecas or Olmecs, it has been supposed, were among 
the most ancient inhabitants of New Spain, and preceded the 
Toltecs in the occupation of that country. Boturini, who had 
made diligent researches into the ancient picture-w T ri tings, con- 
jectured that they fled to the Antilles or to South America, when 
they were expelled from their ancient territory. The Toltecs, 
according to tradition, w r ere overwhelmed by a great famine 
about the year 1052, and some of them passed to the south-east 
into Guatemala ; and, by the existence of the Mexican language 
in Nicaragua, we may trace them still further. It is a curious 
coincidence, and perhaps no more, that about the same period 
the foundation of the Peruvian empire was commenced. In any 
event, analogies have been developed between the most ancient 
style of architecture in Peru, Mexico and North America, be- 
tween the customs, religion and other institutions of all the 
aborigines, and between the primitive traditions of all the civil- 
ized nations. In connection w T ith the evidences of mioration 
into South America, these facts may perhaps afford a basis for 
a reasonable conjecture, that the first seat of American civiliza- 
tion was in Central America : that from the first colony there 
planted, population was diffused northwardly into the United 
States, w-hence, at a subsequent period, the tide of emigration 



Vega, vol. i. p. 24. 



214 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

rolled back ; and southwardly, along the Cordilleras, into South 
America : and that at this remote period, various tribes, rapidly 
declining in civilization as they separated from their parent 
stock, expanded over the vast territory stretching before them 
in both continents, until the whole western hemisphere was 
peopled by one great race.* 

* Upon an old map, contained in an edition of Vega published 
1737, the country in the "Audience de Panama" is marked as "an- 
cient Peru." Another indication of the southerly course of migra- 
tion is afforded in the Fuegian language, which it is said resembles 
the Araucanian. — Voyages of King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 188. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



215 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ROUTES OF MIGRATION. 

The course of the preceding argument has conducted us to 
the threshold of that vexed question, — the origin of the abori- 
gines. The first step towards a solution of this problem involves 
an inquiry into the routes, by which a colony may have reached 
our shores, and the feasibility of such a migration in the early 
ages of the world. In the examination of the routes, attention is 
first attracted to that point where the two hemispheres approach 
each other, — the straits of Behring. This narrow body of water, 
the shores of which are only thirty-nine miles asunder, opposes 
no barrier to the communication between Asia and America. 
The passage, which is facilitated by the interposition of three 
islands, the St. Diomeds, is frequently made by the Tchutski, in 
their hostile incursions against the American natives; while the 
latter are occasionally found upon the Asiatic side, vending their 
furs to the Russian merchants. Indeed, the first intelligence of 
the proximity of the two continents was derived, from the Tchut- 
ski, so early as the middle of the seventeenth century ; at which 
period they often crossed the straits to trade with the Ameri- 
cans.* Further to the south, the Aleutian islands, which 
commence near the promontory of Alaska and range in a south- 
westerly direction towards the coast of Kamtschatka, are occu- 



* Coxe's Russian Discoveries^ p. 294. 



216 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



pied by native tribes who find no difficulty in passing from 
island to island in their baidars.* The climate of the country 
in the vicinity of the straits appears to have been an insuperable 
obstacle to the existence of civilization, and the inhabitants gen- 
erally have reached the lowest stage of humanity. For a vast 
distance along the shores, quite into the interior of both conti- 
nents, we find no vestiges of a cultivated people ; and though 
by this route barbarous tribes may have passed into America, 
it seems beyond the range of all probability, that civilized na- 
tions should have found their way from Central Asia to Central 
America through these cold and remote regions. 

From the difficulties attendant upon the supposition of a 
migration by Behring's straits, refuge has been taken in two 
theories, originated many years since, maintaining the former 
existence of large bodies of land in the Atlantic and Pacific 
oceans, connecting our continent, on either hand, with Europe 
and Asia. Of these conjectures, the one possessing the greatest 
probability, and justified in some degree by ancient traditions, 
relates to the island Atlantis. In the dialogues of Plato entitled 
Timoeus, the voyage of Solon to Egypt is referred to, and cer- 
tain conversations recited, which took place between him, and 
the priests of an ancient temple in the Delta. Alluding to 
some old Egyptian records, they related to the Athenian law- 
giver, that many deeds of his countrymen, there recorded, were 
truly admirable, — but one surpassed all others in magnitude and 
excellence. For the writings mentioned, that a great power, 
proceeding out of the Atlantic ocean and spreading itself over 
Europe and Asia, was checked by the arms of the Athenians. 



* Coxe, pp. 75, 103. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 217 

It came from the island Atlantis, lying in the ocean, before the 
straits, called by the Greeks the Pillars of Hercules. This 
Atlantis was larger than Lybia and Asia together, and from it 
there was a passage to other islands, and from these to a conti- 
nent beyond. The combined power of the kings of Atlantis 
was mighty and wonderful. Having conquered all that, and 
many other islands, and parts of the continent, Lybia as far as 
Egypt, and Europe as far as Tyrrhenia, they undertook to 
subdue Greece, Egypt, and all the country within the straits. 
Athens then became eminent for her valor and strength, and, 
though deserted by the other states, met the approaching ene- 
my, overturned their trophies, saved the free from impending 
slavery, and restored freedom to those already subdued. But in 
after times, floods and earthquakes taking place, in one dreadful 
night and day, the island Atlantis sunk into the sea, and disap- 
peared ; and, for many ages, the ocean there could not be navi- 
gated, owing to the numerous rocks and shoals with which it 
abounded. In the Critias, and various other portions of Plato, 
this lost island is again alluded to, and frequent references are 
made to it in subsequent classic authors. '/ From a consideration 
also of the ancient mythology, according to which, Atlas was 
descended from the Ocean, and married Hesperis or the West, 
from which union proceeded the Atlantides, it will be perceived 
this tradition is more ancient than Plato, being interwoven with 
the religious fables of the Greeks. Homer's Atlas coincides 
with this tradition, — having its lofty pillars reaching from 
heaven to earth, and its foundations laid in the depths of the 
ocean. The garden of the Hesperides, synonymous, according 
to Diodorus, with the Atlantides, was in the neighborhood of 
Atlas, and the Elysian fields are described as an enchanting 

28 



218 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



country situate far to the westward, beyond the sea. Hesiod 
speaks of Atlas in a similar style, and as a neighbor to the 
Hesperian nymphs. Antaeus, the son of Atlas, who founded 
Tangier on the African shore of the straits of Gibraltar, is 
related to have defended himself against the attacks of Hercules 
with great vigor, and having sent abroad for assistance, it is 
said that he received new strength from his parent, as often as 
he touched the ground. The language of this fable seems 
manifestly to refer to aid derived by maritime armaments from 
Atlas, which became effective only when they had reached his 
shores. The Cabiri also, according to Sanchoniatho, have 
recorded that Atlas was buried alive by his brothers, a story 
alluding, perhaps, to that sudden submersion so minutely de- 
scribed by Plato. 

It has been maintained, and with much learning and inge- 
nuity, that the peak of TenerifFe was the original Mount Atlas, 
and that the Greeks, inferior to the Phenicians in maritime 
skill, probably never saw the Canaries, and in their ignorance, 
sought for Mount Atlas on the western coast of Africa. This 
error, if it be one, is as remote as Herodotus, and was adopted 
by Strabo and Ptolemy, who in their turn transmitted it to the 
modern world. That the Canary islands were inhabited at a 
very early period, appears from the testimony of Pliny, who 
states that vestiges of an ancient population still existed there 
in the ruins of edifices. The well known facility with which 
names were transferred, in ancient geography, from one country 
to another, in consequence of the migration of its inhabitants, 
may perhaps authorize the supposition that after the disappear- 
ance of the Atlantic island, its name was appropriated or con- 
fined to those islands nearer the shores of Europe, and thence 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



219 



was carried into Africa by subsequent emigration. The Gu- 
anches, the aboriginal population of the Canaries, in their cus- 
toms, the habit of embalming the dead, and their language, 
exhibit striking affinities to some nations of Africa. Herodotus 
describes the Atlantes, a nation living in the vicinity of Mount 
Atlas, and the Berbers, their modern descendants, are strongly 
distinguished from the surrounding tribes, by their physical ap- 
pearance, reddish complexion, and language analogous to that 
of the Guanches.* 

It may be conjectured then, that the traditions narrated in 
Plato, were obtained from these islands, or perhaps from the 
tribes in Africa we have alluded to, and thus communicated to 
the Egyptians and Greeks, and incorporated in their mythol- 
ogy ; an opinion which the following quotation from Proclus 
seems to favor. In his commentary! upon the passage cited 
from Plato, he says, " That such, and so great an island, form- 

* Pritchard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, p. 190. That 
a migration from the west to the east, at so early a period, is not im- 
probable, cannot be better illustrated than by the following passage : 
"Among the strange nations with which Ulysses became acquainted 
in his wanderings, the Phseacians deserve a moment's attention. It 
appears that they were much more refined and industrious than the 
Greeks, that they were better informed, in the arts, more skilful navi- 
gators, and were addicted to commerce. They inhabited the island 
of Scheria, supposed to be the same as Corcyra, having been forced 
to leave their former abode in Hyperia, from the troublesome neigh- 
borhood of the Cyclops. This mention of a retrograde movement from 
west to east, and of a people more cultivated than the Greeks, is 
extremely remarkable at so early an age. — Cooley's Hist. Mar. and 
Inland Dis., vol. i. p. 17. 

f Proclus, in Timceus, Cory's Fragments, p. 233. 



220 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



erly existed, is recorded by some of the historians, who have 
treated of the concerns of the outward sea. For they say that 
in their times, there were seven islands, situated in that sea, 
which were sacred to Persephone, and three others of an im- 
mense magnitude, one of which was consecrated to Pluto, 
another to Ammon, and that which was situated between them 
to Poseidon ; the size of this last was no less than a thousand 
stadia. The inhabitants of this island preserved a tradition, 
handed down from their ancestors, concerning the existence of 
the Atlantic island, of a prodigious magnitude, which had really 
existed in those seas ; and which during a long period of time 
governed all the islands in the Atlantic ocean. Such is the 
relation of Marcellus in his Ethiopian history."* This cele- 
brated legend has been variously interpreted, and some of the 
later authors gave it an allegorical meaning. But this opinion 
can scarcely be supported, for Plato seems to have implicit belief 
in the facts he narrates, and records them as matter of history. 
It appears also that this philosopher conceived the extent of 
the earth to be much greater than was usually received at that 
period, and that the latter Platonists were convinced that the 
earth contained two quarters, in an opposite direction to Europe 
and Asia.f The traditions in relation to Atlas present another 
curious fact, which would indicate some connection in the an- 
cient mythology between the story of Atlantis, and the former 

* According to the Hindoos, the earth was divided by Prigauratta 
into seven Dwipas or islands ; he at first intended to share his do- 
minions among his ten sons, but three of these retired from the world. 
Afterwards all the Dwipas, but one, were destroyed by a deluge. — 
Coolers Mar. Hist, vol. i. p. 149. 

f Taylor's Plato, vol. ii. p. 434. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



221 



existence of greater skill in the art of navigation ; for it seems 
to be justly concluded, that Atlas was a personification of navi- 
gation, or as described by Homer, " one who knows all the 
depths of the sea."* 

In any event, after a fair and impartial examination of all 
these circumstances, it seems extremely difficult to regard the 
account of Plato as a fabrication. Its accordance with the 
ancient mythology, and with facts now well ascertained, and 
its allusion to a western " continent," unknown at that period, 
oppose such a presumption. If it was the creation of Grecian 
or Egyptian imagination, surely fancy never formed a truer 
fiction, nor modern discovery disclosed a more striking coinci- 
dence. But, yielding all the credit to these traditions to which 
they may be entitled, it is yet a question whether they referred 
to islands still existent in the Atlantic ocean, as the Azores, 
and the West Indian archipelago, or to land now submerged ; 
as it is possible that, in a fertile mythology, and in the absence 
of any more accurate means of explanation, their disappearance 
may have been attributed to earthquakes and other natural 
convulsions, rather than to the more probable cause, — the loss 
of the means of communication arising from a decline in mari- 
time skill. Whatever be the decision upon this point, it will 
be perceived that if these accounts are to be relied upon, as 
historical evidence, they afford no proof of a former land con- 
nection between Europe and America, Atlantis being invariably 
described, as an island in the ocean that rolled between the two 
continents. 

It remains to inquire what evidence exists of a similar con- 



* "Anthem's Class. Die, Atlas, 



222 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



nection with Asia. It has been supposed, that a vast tract of 
land, now submerged beneath the waters of the Pacific ocean, 
once connected Asia and America, and formed a passage-way 
for the migration of men and animals to this continent. The 
arguments in favor of this opinion are predicated upon that 
portion of the Scriptures, relating to the "division" of the earth 
in the days of Peleg, which is thought to indicate a physical 
division, — upon the analogies between the Peruvians, Mexicans 
and Polynesians, which latter are conjectured to have been 
saved, by a flight to the summits of the mountains, now forming 
the islands they occupy,— and upon the difficulty of accounting 
in any other manner for the presence of some kinds of animals 
in America. That part of the Genesis referred to, states that 
one of the sons of Eber was named Peleg, for in his days "was 
the earth divided." In the sixth verse of the same chapter, 
however, in speaking of the descendants of Japheth, it is said, 
"By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided, in their lands;" 
and in the seventh succeeding verse, " These are the families of 
the sons of Noah, after their generations, — in their nations, — 
and by these were the nations divided in the earth, after the 
flood." Is it to be determined, then, that a great convulsion, 
overwhelming multitudes of the human race, destroying nearly 
one-half of the habitable globe, ten thousand miles in extent, 
and producing the most important revolutions in the aspect, 
condition and climate of the earth, was thus incidentally alluded 
to, under the simple expression, " the earth was divided ;." or 
rather, was not reference made to a political or social division, 
as described in preceding and subsequent verses, between the 
families of the sons of Noah, their generations and nations ? 
That remarkable analogies are to be observed between the 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



223 



Mexicans, Peruvians, and Polynesians, is unquestionable; but 
this, in itself, argues nothing in favor of a land connection. 
Besides, if these resemblances are referrible to such a commu- 
nication, why is it that similar coincidences do not exist in 
zoology, and that none of the larger animals, either of Asia or 
America, have been discovered in these islands, save such 
domesticated ones, as may easily have been carried in the 
rudest kind of vessels ? and why is it, in particular, that the 
domestic animals, which are distributed over most of these 
islands, were not found in the new world 1 The reply is mani- 
fest : because this conjectured terrestrial communication never 
existed, a conclusion substantiated, in some measure, by geolo- 
gical testimony. Instead of being those portions of the deluged 
territory, which from their height have escaped submersion, 
there are no islands, yet examined, in Eastern Oceanica, but 
such as consist either of volcanic rocks, or coralline limestone, 
bearing marks of having been upheaved from the bosom of 
the ocean, by successive volcanic eruptions, — or as have been 
formed upon the crests of sub-marine volcanoes, that have even 
the rims and bottoms of their craters overgrown with coral. 
This is the case even with the largest islands, where coral reefs 
are sometimes found on the volcanic soil, reaching from the 
sea-shore far into the interior. And upon the. summit of nearly 
the highest mountain in Tahiti or Otaheite, an island composed 
almost entirely of volcanic rocks, at an elevation of twelve 
thousand feet above the level of the sea, there is a distinct 
stratum of fossil coral, showing that a great part, if not the 
w T hole of the island has been raised from the level of the ocean, 
and has not been formed by supra-marine eruptions. Instead 
of evincing any evidences, indeed, of the submersion of a large 



224 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN" AND 



tract of land, joining America and Asia, the proofs are directly 
dissentient, and geological examination shows, that the Pacific 
has been a vast theatre of igneous action, and that its immense 
archipelagos, instead of being surrounded, before the time of 
their insular formation, by land, are all composed of coral 
limestones or volcanic rocks upraised from the sea.* 

But notwithstanding these facts in the physical geography 
of the Oceanic islands, it is still insisted, that this theory affords 
the only method of accounting for the migration of animals to 
this continent. This position admits of several answers. 1st. 
If the hypothesis be conceded as well founded, there are difficul- 
ties to encounter in the remarkable difference which exists, be- 
tween the zoology of Asia and America. Had so easy a com- 
munication ever existed, it is obvious that the animal kingdom 
of this^continent should correspond in a great degree with that 
of the other, whereas on the contrary, there is the widest dis- 
crepancy between them. Besides wanting some of the domes- 
tic and other animals of the Pacific islands, we have not the 
horse, the cow, the camel, the dromedary, elephant, lion, rhi- 
noceros, camelopard, hippopotamus, the tiger, and other mam- 
malia of the eastern hemisphere, while at the same time the 
American sloth, paca, coati, agouti, couguar, peccari, and 
lama are all unknown in Asia. 2d. It is far from being conceded, 
that any necessity exists, for explaining the presence of animals 
in America in the way proposed; for while there is plausibility 
in the opinion, advanced by many distinguished naturalists, that 
there have been distinct animal creations, simultaneously, for 

* Lyell's Geology, vol. ii. p. 174. etc. Tour through Hawaii, by 
Rev. W. Ellis, pp. 7, 9. etc. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



225 



different portions of the earth— an idea in nowise opposed by 
the Scriptural accounts contained in the Genesis ; and while 
many learned and pious men have maintained that the Deluge 
was partial, and of no greater extent than was necessary to 
accomplish its great end, the destruction of the human race ; 
there are decided indications of the former existence of a 
warmer climate in the northern regions of both continents, by 
which the main objection to the migration of our tropical ani- 
mals by a northern route is removed. By natural, or as they 
are sometimes unjustly termed, accidental causes; by the instinct 
of some animals to migrate ; by floods, whereby those capable 
of swimming have been carried vast distances; by sudden scar- 
city of food, inroads of more powerful genera, or changes in 
local climate ; — by the drifting of ice-floes, and of those float- 
ing islands, which covered with trees and animals have been 
met at sea ; and by the direct interposition of man, — the distri- 
bution of the brute creation over regions far more widely sepa- 
rated than the opposite shores of Behring's straits, or of the 
Aleutian islands is easily demonstrated ; and at the same time, 
such partial and occasional causes may explain the absence of 
many of the species of the old continent. The great difficulty, 
however, impeding such a solution of this problem is the pre- 
sent inclement climate of this portion of the earth, too severe, 
doubtless, for the existence of those tropical animals, which 
must have passed by this route. 

Without intending by additional theories, to perplex a sub- 
ject, already sufficiently, and perhaps unnecessarily embarrassed, 
by this zoological question, it may be well to allude to the evi- 
dences of the former existence of a higher temperature in the 
temperate and Arctic regions than they now enjoy. Thus in Si- 

29 



226 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN" AND 



cily, Calabria, France and England, fossil plants, reptiles, and the 
remains of quadrupeds have been discovered, some of which 
from their form and structure it is apparent must have existed 
in a much warmer climate, than those countries possess at pre- 
sent; others are species of genera analogous to those now 
flourishing in warmer districts, and others are exactly and spe- 
cifically identical with those which now are found only in tro- 
pical climates. In the superficial deposits of Europe, are found 
the remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, lion, hippopota- 
mus, and hyena, animals now all occupying warmer regions. 
In northern Siberia, America, and even upon the very shores 
of Behring's straits, the bones of the rhinoceros and mammoth 
have been discovered,* while the remains of plants, corals, and 

* The bones of the mammoth are, as it is well known, widely 
spread over the American continent, and in some places in great 
profusion. Cuvier says that its remains are in a better state of pre- 
servation than any other fossil bones ; and there are some curious 
facts which may give rise to the conjecture, that its extinction is more 
recent than has been supposed. Charlevoix, in speaking of the 
Orignal (elk), narrates an Indian tradition of "a great Orignal," an 
enormous animal, whose skin was proof against all kinds of arms, and 
that he had u a kind of arm which grew out of his shoulder.'''' — Voyage, 
vol. i. p. 88. Dr. James, in describing the various forms under which 
the Wahconda is supposed to appear to the medicine-men of the 
Missouri tribes, observes that " one individual attributed to an ani- 
mal from which he received his medicines, the form and features 
of the elephant." — Vol. i. p. 246. Some bodies of the mammoth 
found in the United States, have been well preserved, and in one 
case, where parts of the flesh and stomach were still existing, within 
the latter the remains of plants now known in Virginia were observed. 
— BakewelVs Geology, p. 335. It is Clavigero, I believe, who says 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



227 



madrepores, upon Melville island, seventy-five degrees north lat- 
itude, are of such, as could have subsisted only in the heat of 
the tropics. Innumerable facts of this character have induced 
geologists to conclude, that the northern hemisphere, at some 
distant period possessed a much warmer climate, congenial with 
the physical constitution of this its extinct animal and vegeta- 
ble kingdom, and which diminished gradually, even after the 
appearance upon the earth of a great portion of the existing 
species. But to return to the theory under discussion, there is 

that a tomb in the city of Mexico, upon being opened, was found to 
contain the bones of an entire mammoth, the sepulchre appearing to 
have been formed expressly for their reception. Mr. Latrobe relates, 
that during the prosecution of some excavations near the city of Tez- 
cuco, one of the ancient roads or causeways was discovered, and on 
one side, only three feet below the surface, in what may have been 
the ditch of the road, there lay the entire skeleton of a mastodon. It 
bore every appearance of having been coeval with the period, when 
the road, was used, and he suggests that these animals may have 
been the beasts of burden of the ancient inhabitants. — Latrobe 's Ramb. 
in Mex., vol. i. p. 145. The tusks of the mammoth, or of an animal 
whose bones are often found accompanying it, in this country, bear a 
near resemblance to the tusk of the elephant. — Trans. Am Phil. Soc, 
vol. iv. pp. 512, 513. It has been thought that the head and trunk of 
the elephant have been represented upon the Mexican monuments, 
and in some of their paintings, — particularly in the Codex Mexicanus 
at Vienna. Waldeck says that they are to be seen at Palenque and 
Uxmal, and remarks that in the figures at Uxmal, the trunk is longer 
than that of the tapir, and is turned upwards in the air, facts which 
he considers as showing decisively that the head of the tapir was not 
intended, for that animal cannot elevate its trunk. — Voyage Pitto- 
resque, etc., pp. 74, 100. 



228 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



one circumstance, which, as respects the civilized nations of 
Mexico and Central America, seems to be decisive of the ques- 
tion. In the maps of the migrations of these nations, the first 
journey is generally represented, as having been made over 
some body of water ; and indeed there does not appear to be a 
single well authenticated tradition among any aboriginal tribes, 
civilized or barbarous, of a passage by land, while many have 
preserved clear accounts of a prior event, the great deluge, 
which, in Mexico and Peru at least, is manifestly the same as 
recorded by Moses, * 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



229 



CHAPTER V. 

ANCIENT NAVIGATION AND THE DRIFTING OF VESSELS. 

The proofs which exist, showing that our continent was 
peopled at a very early age, suggest an inquiry as to the mar- 
itime skill of the ancients. The high position attained by many 
of the primitive nations in various of the arts and sciences, and 
the extent to which commerce was prosecuted in very remote 
ages, render it improbable that the conquest of the ocean was 
never accomplished, — much less, that it was never attempted. 
Knowledge is not partial nor contracted in its influence ; its 
impulses are sympathetic, and seek development in whatever 
direction the curiosity, the interests, or the enterprise of man 
affords an object. It would have been an anomaly, indeed, for 
the sciences of geometry and astronomy to have existed in so 
great perfection, without being applied to navigation. Besides, 
there are passages in the works of authors, sacred and profane, 
which it is contended by the learned, alluded to the magnet. 
Thus Plato speaks of the attractive powers of the Heraclian 
stone ; Sanchoniatho says that Omanus contrived Boetulian 
stones that moved as having life ; and Homer, in lauding the 
maritime skill of the Pheacians, remarks of their vessels, that 
they sped to distant climes, through pathless seas, without the 
aid of pilots, and though " wrapt in clouds and darkness." The 
Rev. Mr. Maurice observes, that the magnet is referred to by 
the most ancient classical writers, under the name of Lapis He- 



230 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



radius, in allusion to its asserted inventor, Hercules, and that 
"the Chaldeans and Arabians have immemorially made use of 
it, to guide them over the vast deserts, that overspread their re- 
spective countries."* M. Klaproth has traced the communica- 
tion of the use of the magnetic needle in Europe, to the Arabs 
in the time of the crusades, and from the Arabs to the Chinese. 
The latter nation appears to have been acquainted with the at- 
tractive power of the loadstone at a remote date; and its pro- 
perty of communicating polarity to iron is noticed in a Chinese 
w r ork finished A. D. 121, and in another work it is stated that 
ships were steered to the south by the magnet so early as A. D. 
429.f It is hardly possible that so valuable an invention 
should not have been communicated to the nations with which 
they had commercial intercourse ; and it is singular that in the 
very quarter from which America, most probably, was peopled, 
— Eastern Asia, — this instrument should have been known and 
used, in ancient ages. 

Independent, however, of these evidences respecting the 
knowledge of the compass, there are sufficient historical testi- 
monies, to establish, that the ancients were not wholly igno- 
rant of the art of navigation. That great inland sea, the Med- 
iterranean, was traversed at an early period by the people living 
upon its borders, who not only achieved much in naval archi- 
tecture, but performed long and arduous voyages. Tt has been 
clearly shown, that long before our era, the Canaries, Azores, 
the British islands, and probably the Baltic, were visited by the 
Carthagenians, and that Africa was circumnavigated by the 

* Maurice's Ind. Antiq., vol. vi. p. 191. Hyde de Rel. Vet. Pers., 
p. 189, cited in ibid. 

f The Chinese, etc., by John F. Davis, vol. ii. p. 218. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



231 



Phenicians.* The Carthagenians, before the age of Herodo- 
tus, traded with nations beyond the straits of Gibraltar, and the 
Pbenicians in the days of Solomon made triennial voyages to 
Tarshish.f 

The Phenecians were also engaged in conducting the com- 
merce of Egypt, though there are good reasons for supposing, 
that the Egyptians were no unskilful mariners. In the time 
of Moses, East Indian productions were imported into Egypt ,J 
and articles indicating a commerce with India, have been dis- 
covered in Egyptian tombs of the Eighteenth dynasty.§ Mr. 
Wilkinson says, that it is highly probable that the port of 
Philoteras, on the Red Sea, was already founded in the days of 
Joseph, and that the canal joining the Red Sea and the Nile, 
was probably built B. C. 1355 ; and hence it is not surprising 
that the aromatic productions of the Moluccas should have 
been known at Rome and mentioned by Plautus 200 B. C.|| In 
this commerce, the Arabians, who were " the first navigators of 
their own seas and the first carriers of Oriental produce/' were 
also engaged, before the Christian era. They sailed to the east- 
ern seas in large vessels, and vessels of great size frequented 
their ports also from Indus, Patalis, Persis, and Caramania.H 
Nor were these expeditions always undertaken by following 



* Cooley, vol. ii. p. 46. f 1 Kings 10 : 22. 

J Exodus 3 : 23. 

§ Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 231. Ibid. vol. i. pp. 46, 69, 226. 
|| Cooley, vol. i. p. 130. 

T[ Crichton's Hist. Arabia, p. 137. Heeren's Res., vol. iii. p. 408. 
Agatharchides in Photius, cited in Cooley, vol. i. p. 128. Also Coo- 
ley, vol. i. p. 125. 



.232 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

the shore. Vessels often sailed out from sight of land, trusting 
to the stars for guidance. 

Along the southern and eastern shores of Asia, a region 
more nearly related to our present inquiry, there are similar in- 
dications of early maritime skill. It now appears that the laws 
of the Hindoos tacitly allowed commerce by sea.* Arrian men- 
tions five different kinds of vessels among the Hindoos, one of 
which consisted of ships of great size.f " The Hindoos of Ma- 
lacca," says Mr. Crawford, " are the only ultra-marine colo- 
nists of that people of whom I have heard. The popular notion 
of its being forbidden to Hindoos to quit their country by sea is 
sufficiently contradicted by their existence ; and how, indeed, 
without supposing such emigration, are we, in common sense, 
to account for the once wide spread of their religion among the 
distant islands of the Indian ocean ?"J The Indian commerce, 
however, was principally in the hands of the Arabians and Ma- 
lays. The Malays are still noted in the east for their enterprise, 
and fondness for nautical adventure, and if the opinion be cor- 
rect that their language contains a decided infusion of Sanscrit, 
Arabic, and Coptic words, no surer testimony can be given of 
their ancient attainments in navigation. We are surprised to 
find, when the Portuguese first penetrated into the Indian ar- 
chipelago, mention of Malay fleets, which in point of numbers 
and the size of the vessels, indicate great maritime Powers. One 
of these, according to Mr. Marsden, numbered ninety vessels, 
twenty-five of them large galleys ; another, three hundred sail, 



* Heeren's Researches, vol. iii. pp. 381, 401. 
f Cited in Cooley, vol. i. p. 129. 
X Crawford, vol. i. p. 59. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 233 

eighty of which were junks of four hundred tons burden ; and 
another of five hundred sail, with sixty thousand men.* 

If the Japanese maps are to be credited, their voyages form- 
erly extended to Java, and on the north, it is said, to Behring's 
straits, and to the American coast, which they called Foosang. 
From the Chinese charts, Kamtschatka appears to have been 
known to that nation, in the seventh century, and they even 
claim to have carried on a trade with the north-west coast of 
America, and with California.! Their voyages to the south 
were long, and were directed by charts ; they received spices 
from the Moluccas at an early age, and at one period probably 
extended their commercial enterprises, so far as the Persian 
gulf. In any event it seems certain that the Chinese coins 
were circulated in Java, and among all the nations of the In- 
dian islands, before they adopted the Mohammedan religion, or 
had any intercourse with Europeans.^ 

But it may be contended, and with much plausibility, that 
there exists no necessity of recurring to the theories respecting 
a former land connection, or to the proof of the maritime enter- 
prise of the ancients, — for colonies may easily have reached 
our shores by the accidental drifting of canoes, and other ves- 
sels. This opinion is abundantly supported by many well au- 
thenticated instances, most of which have been recorded since 
this subject has attracted attention. Diodorus relates that a 
Greek merchant, trading to Arabia, was seized by the Ethio- 
pians, and having been placed into a boat and turned out to 



* Marsden's Sumatra, p. 424, etc. 
t Matte Bran. Barrow, pp. 29, 30. 

| Crawford's Siam, vol. i. p. 73. Asiatic Res., vol. ix. p. 40. 
30 



234 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



sea, was carried by the winds to Taprobane or Ceylon. In the 
time of Eudoxus of Cyzicus, B. C. 146, an Indian was found in 
a boat on the shores of the Red Sea, who, upon learning the 
Greek language, stated that he had sailed from India, and had 
been driven to that distance by the wind. Pliny narrates that 
in the days of Quintus Metellus, some strange and savage peo- 
ple were driven upon the German coast, and sent by the Suevi 
to that general. The discovery of America by the Northmen 
was accidental ; and Iceland was discovered A. D. 862, by 
some mariners who were bound for the Feroe islands, but were 
thrown out of their course by tempests. In 1684, several Es- 
quimaux, driven out to sea in their canoes, were drifted, after a 
long continuance of boisterous weather, upon the Orkneys. It 
is related that a small vessel, destined from one of the Canary 
islands to TenerifTe, was forced out of her way by contrary 
winds to within a short distance from Caraccas, where meeting 
an English ship, she was directed to one of the South American 
ports. 

In 1731 another barque, sailing from TenerifTe to one of 
the neighboring isles, drifted from her course, and was finally 
brought to at Trinidad. Cabral, the commander of a Portuguese 
fleet, sent out in the year 1500 to the East Indies, whilst pro- 
secuting the voyage, departed so far from the African coast, as 
to encounter the western continent ; and thus the discovery of 
Brazil w r as entirely accidental. In 1745, some vessels navigated 
by the natives were forced out to sea from Kamtschatka, to one 
of the Aleutian islands, — a distance of several hundred miles. 
In 1789, Captain Bligh, his crew having mutinied and seized 
his ship whilst in the Pacific ocean, was placed with eighteen 
men in a boat, provided only with a small quantity of provi- 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



235 



sions, and having traversed four thousand miles in forty-six 
days, succeeded finally, in landing at Tima in the East Indies. 

In 1797, twelve negroes, escaping from an African slave 
ship upon that coast, took to a boat, and after five weeks, three 
of the number who had survived, were drifted ashore at Barba- 
does. In 1799, three men were driven out to sea by stress of 
weather from St. Helena, in a small boat, and two of them reach- 
ed the coast of South America in a month, — one having perish- 
ed on the voyage. In 1820, one hundred and fifty inhabitants of 
Anaa or Chain Island, situated three hundred miles east of Ota- 
heite, having embarked in three canoes, encountered the mon- 
soon. Two of the vessels were lost, but the occupants of the 
third, after being driven from island to island, and obtaining a 
scanty subsistence, were found six hundred miles from their 
point of departure. Three natives of Otaheite, have been met 
on the island of Wateo, whither they had drifted in a canoe, 
over five hundred miles. 

In 1782, Captain Inglefield of the Centaur, and eleven men, 
sailed upon the Atlantic ocean three hundred leagues, in an 
open pinnace, without compass, chart, or sail, and were ulti- 
mately landed on Fayal. A native of Ulea has been found on 
one of the Coral isles of Radack, where he had arrived with 
two companions, after a long and boisterous voyage of eight 
months, during which period they had been driven by wind 
and storms to the amazing distance of fifteen hundred miles. 
In 1686, several natives of the Caroline islands were carried by 
the winds and currents to the Philippine islands, by which means 
that group first became known to the Europeans. The Japan- 
ese are often accidentally thrown upon the Philippine islands.* 

* Page's Travels, p. 46. 



236 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



In the year 1542, three Portuguese sailed from Siam in a junk, 
and were driven out of their course to within sight of Japan * 
In 1833, a Japanese junk was cast away on the American coast 
at Cape Flattery, and of seventeen men only three were saved. 
In the same year eleven of the same nation were drifted to one 
of the Sandwich islands.f 

In 1721, thirty men, women and children w T ere driven by 
bad weather from Farroiless to Guaham, one of the Marian isles, 
a space of two hundred miles ; and in 1696, a like number 
were carried from Ancorso to Tamar, one of the Philippines, 
about eight hundred miles. In 1821, a large canoe filled with 
natives arrived at the island of Maurua, from Rurutu, — five hun- 
dred miles, in a direct course.t Subsequently another from 
Otaheite reached one of the islands near Mangea, six hundred 
miles ; two reached Otaheite from Hao, of the existence of which 
place the Otaheitans were before ignorant ; and the native 
missionaries travelling among the different Pacific insular groups, 
are continually meeting their countrymen, — who have been 
driven out to sea. 

Multitudes of these occurrences must have preceded the 
progress of modern discovery in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, 
and consequently have happened without leaving any record or 
trace. Accumulated cases of this kind, should be taken in 
connection with the fact, that excepting Spitzbergen and Nova 
Zembla, to the north, Falkland, and Kergueland's land to the 
south, whose inhospitable climes forbid permanent habitation 
and subsistence, no considerable extent of land has been found 

* Hakluyt, vol. iv. p. 48. 

j Parker's Exploring Tour, p. 152. 

X Tour through Hawaii, p. 442. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



237 



uninhabited, and that with the exception of St. Helena, the 
smallest islands capable of supporting a population, including 
nearly all the numerous islets of the Pacific, however distant 
from continents, have been discovered tenanted by human be- 
ings.* Our race occupies islands and continents detached from 
the fountain-head of all human life, and pervades nearly every 
inhabitable spot upon the globe. Thus widely has the earth 
been peopled in the early periods of society — either by maritime 
nations, or by barbarians destitute of those arts of civilization, 
and that perfection in science, which enable men to intrust 
their lives and property without danger to the ocean, and to 
pursue the path of discovery in confident security. 

It is impossible to attribute this extensive distribution — this 
tide of population flowing from island to island, and from con- 
tinent to continent, — entirely to the maritime abilities of former 
ages, and equally impossible in many cases to suppose a former 
land connection, as a means of solving the difficulty. Experi- 
ence affords the only clue to this problem, and shows that by 
those adventitious causes, which have been always in action 
since the beginning, man has found his way wherever his Ma- 
ker had prepared him an abode ; and that, in the language of 
a distinguished scientific author, " were the whole of mankind 
destroyed, with the exception of one family, inhabiting an islet 
of the Pacific ; their descendants, though never more enlightened 
than the South Sea Islanders, or the Esquimaux, would in the 
course of ages be diffused over the whole earth."f 

' * Lyell's Geology. 

| In speaking of the fact, that the appearance of certain birds at 
sea indicates approach to land, Captain Fitzroy remarks : " Until I 
became aware of these facts, the discovery of the almost innumerable 



238 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. 

The discovery of America disclosed a new and fascinating 
field for the speculations of philosophers. Attracted by the 
freshness and novelty of the subjects thus afforded for disquisi- 
tion, a bright and dazzling array of learning and talent was 
early directed to the important problems connected with its nat- 
ural and social history, and especially to the solution of that in- 
teresting question — the origin of its native inhabitants. At that 
period, however, many prerequisites were wanting to the suc- 
cessful determination of this inquiry, which have been supplied 
only by the science, the enterprise and the researches which 
have distinguished the recent history of philosophy and know- 
ledge. Many of the first theories, therefore, were remarkable 
only for boldness and improbability ; for, the more feeble the 
light — the more dark and uncertain the truth — the more does 

islands in the great ocean of Magalhaens (erroneously, though now 
probably for ever, called the Pacific) caused great perplexity in my 
mind. That Easter Island, for instance, such a speck in the expanse 
and so far from other land, should have been not only discovered, but 
repeatedly visited and successively peopled by different parties of the 
human family, seemed extraordinary ; but now, connecting the nu- 
merous accounts related by voyagers, of canoes driven hundreds of 
miles away from their desired place, with these facts respecting birds, 
much of the mystery seems unravelled. — Voyages, vol. ii. p. 558. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



239 



human ingenuity struggle to fathom the mystery ; and once 
launched on the "broad sea of conjecture, the imagination too 
often triumphs over the reason. Another fatal defect which 
lay at the very root of other hypotheses, was the predisposition 
of their authors for some particular opinion, for whose support 
their perception was quick and keen in the detection of every 
circumstance that might be turned in its favor. Surely there 
are few propositions which may not be plausibly supported, by 
an ingenious and skilful combination of facts, carefully and 
adroitly selected with direct reference to a desired conclusion. 
" Facts," says Coleridge, " are not stubborn, but pliant things, — 
they are not truths, they are not conclusions, they are not even 
premises, — the truth depends on, and is only arrived at by, a 
legitimate deduction from all the facts which are really mate- 
rial." A bare recital of the nations which have been supposed, 
by various authors, to have peopled America, will abundantly 
indicate upon what insufficient data the solution of so great a 
problem has been ventured ; they are the Atlantides, the Phe- 
nicians, and the Carthagenians, the Hebrews, Egyptians, Hin- 
doos, Chinese, Tartars, Malays, Polynesians, the Northmen, 
and the Welsh ; whilst some have gone a step further and con- 
sidered America as the most ancient of the continents, and the 
Indians as the real aborigines of the soil. 

If the Carthagenians are to be believed, they knew of no 
continent stretching beyond the great western ocean.* As re- 
spects the Egyptians, Hindoos, Chinese, Malays, Polynesians, 
and Tartars, the evidences deserve more minute consideration. 
The discovery of America by the Northmen, which has been so 



* Festus Avienus, v. 380. 



240 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



triumphantly vindicated and proved, besides being too recent 
to account for our aboriginal population, establishes, by its own 
narratives, the prior existence of a native race. The authen- 
ticity of the account of the Welsh voyages, at the close of the 
twelfth century, seems also to be confirmed ; but the attempt to 
trace some remnants of that nation, with which the moderate 
and intelligent advocates of the theory have long been con- 
tented, has proved unsuccessful. It appears now to be well 
settled, that so far as the Indian dialects are concerned, there 
exists no evidence of the descent of any of the tribes from those 
colonists.* The Hebrew theory has been more strenuously 
maintained, and the arguments in its favor have been displayed 
with great ability and learning. It may be observed, that most 
of the points of resemblance which have been discovered be- 
tween the rites and institutions of that people and the Indians, 
may be traced also in those of several other nations, and are 
indicative only of an ancient and primitive origin. But the ob- 
jections have been overlooked; the Jews, though scattered 
through every region and climate, ever remain a peculiar peo- 
ple, needing no argument to prove their lineage. In considera- 
tion of their national character, it is absolutely impossible to 
suppose that a race adhering so tenaciously to their ancient in- 
stitutions and customs, after wandering into the new world 
should have lost every memorial of their history, laws, and re- 
ligion. Moreover, the physical types of the two races are 
essentially different, and we know of no effect of climate, by 
which the Hebrew could have been transformed into the red 
and beardless American. If any thing were wanting, however, 



* Arch. Am., vol. ii. p. 125. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



241 



to set this notion at rest, it is probably afforded in the discov- 
ery, recently announced to the world, of the remains of those 
lost tribes, who were supposed to have reached our continent, 
still existing in Asia. 

From the examination of all these hypotheses, experience 
teaches the future inquirer one lesson — not to institute a nar- 
row and restricted comparison with some particular nation, but 
to extend it to all of the primitive and ancient people of the 
old world. It should be remembered, also, that all reasoning 
upon such questions is moral and not demonstrative, and that 
we can only decide between different theories, according to their 
degrees of probability. And in determining the order of inves- 
tigation, those resemblances which may have originated from 
the same natural causes, and which usually characterize a par- 
ticular stage of society, deserve the slightest consideration, as 
evidences of the lowest rank, while those which cannot be 
traced to such sources, which are manifestly of exotic origin, 
or seem to be arbitrary, are entitled to the greatest weight. 
Proceeding upon this basis, it appears just, to trace the relation- 
ship of nations by analogies in physical appearance, language, 
arts, sciences, religion, customs, civil institutions, and tradi- 
tions. 

Physical appearance. In the discussion as to the causes of 
that physical diversity which exists between various portions 
of the human race, physiologists have raised three prominent 
questions. 1st. Are all mankind descendants of the same human 
family 1 2d. Have the varieties, which are observable, been 
occasioned by the operation of external circumstances upon a 
conformation and appearance originally the same ; or by a ten- 
dency to produce offspring with physical characters different 

31 



242 



RESEARCHES IXTO THE ORIGIN AND 



from those of the parents ? 3d. What is the number of races 
originally distinct from each other ? A brief review of the ar- 
guments upon these topics, is essential to the consideration of 
the most important link in the chain of evidence, connecting 
the aborigines with certain nations of the eastern continent. 

The first proposition, by the voice of history and the con- 
current testimony of the most intelligent naturalists, has been 
determined in the affirmative. As to the first branch of the 
second proposition, few questions have been discussed with 
more research and ability. The force of the arguments, ad- 
vanced by those who advocate this opinion, may be tested by 
reference to the proofs which have been adduced, to show that 
the color of the skin is altered by the influence of the solar 
rays. This, it is held, is observable in the darkening of the 
skin of the face, and of those portions of the body which are 
most usually exposed. Analogical testimony is offered, in the 
blanching of vegetables when the rays of the sun are excluded, 
the prevalence of light colors among polar animals, and in the 
change of the color of some animals, during the winter season. 
It is extremely questionable, however, whether these facts in 
comparative physiology are entitled to much weight, in the 
solution of this problem. For the variations in the color and 
texture of the coverings of the goat, the hare, and the reindeer, 
attending; the change of the seasons, appear to be connected 
with the process of molting-, and to depend upon a specific con- 
stitutional peculiarity ; while the human hair is permanent, 
yielding only to age and disease. This method of accounting 
for the existence of the varieties in the human race, though 
supported by the authority of such distinguished philosophers 
as Blumenbach, Buffon, Zimmerman, and others, has however 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 243 

been ably and successfully combated, it is thought, by Dr. 
Lawrence and Dr. Pritchard, who have proved that the effects 
of climate and other external circumstances are not transmitted 
by generation. The former remarks, that " certain external 
circumstances, as food, climate, mode of life, have the power of 
modifying the animal organization, so as to make it deviate 
from that of the parent. But this effect terminates in the indi- 
vidual. Thus, a fair Englishman, if exposed to the sun, be- 
comes dark and swarthy in Bengal ; but his offspring, if from 
an Englishwoman, are born just as fair as he himself was origi- 
nally ; and the children, after any number of generations that 
we have yet observed, are still born equally fair, provided there 
has been no intermixture of dark blood."* Dr. Pritchard ob- 
serves, in his observations upon this subject, that " nothing 
seems to hold true more generally, than that all acquired con- 
ditions of body, whether produced by art or accident, end with 
the life of the individual in whom they are produced." It will 
be perceived, that the solution of this question rests mainly upon 
two facts : 1st, whether, in the distribution of the races there is 
any relation to climate ; and, 2d, whether there are any his- 
torical proofs of an alteration of complexion produced by a 
change of location. One of the learned authors above cited 
has perhaps succeeded in rendering it highly probable, that the 
physical characters of the African nations display themselves 
under a relation to climate.f But the force of this argument 
is broken, upon examining into the climatic situation of the 
races in the other continents. In Europe, where a gradual in- 

* Lawrence's Lectures on Man, p. 62. 

t Physical Res., vol. ii. p. 331. See Lawrence, p. 344, where this 
is controverted. 



244 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



crease in the darkness of the complexion is endeavored to be 
traced as we proceed southwardly, we still find the original dis- 
tinctive characteristics of different races, retaining a perma- 
nence in various regions, whither they have migrated, notwith- 
standing the change in locality, and the lapse of time. The 
Laplanders, though far to the north, are darker than the Ger- 
mans, and betray a Mongolian origin in their swarthy color. 
The nations of German origin, in Great Britain, are still con- 
trasted with those of Celtic descent; and the Normans of 
France preserve marks of their foreign origin, in their aspect 
and features. In Asia we find copper-colored nations in the 
northern parts of Siberia, where they have existed beyond his- 
torical memory. In India, while some of the inhabitants have 
a light transparent brown complexion, other tribes, occupying 
mountainous countries, are characterized by a dark hue ap- 
proaching to black.* Under the full fervor of a tropica] sun, 
a fair complexion may be perceived among the Sumatrans,f 
" an irrefragable proof," says Mr. Marsden, " that the difference 
of color, in the different inhabitants of the earth, is not the im- 
mediate effect of climate."J In the islands of the Indian and 

* Heber's Narrative, vol. ii. pp. 466 ; 179, 188. Asiatic Researches, 
vol. vii. p. 153. 

| Mr. Marsden, in his History of Sumatra, remarks, " The chil- 
dren of Europeans, born in this island, are as fair as those born in the 
country of their parents. I have observed the same of the second 
generation, when a mixture with the people of the country has been 
avoided. On the other hand, the offspring and all the descendants 
of the Guinea and other African slaves imported there, continue, in 
the last instance, as perfectly black as in the original stock." — Mars- 
den, p. 46. 

| Marsden, p. 46. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



245 



Pacific oceans, not only is the same fact observable, but there 
are appearances of a race approaching the Negro, and wholly 
distinct from the tribes of lighter hue, and occupying extreme 
regions under the forty-fifth degree of south latitude. The black 
races who have been considered the aborigines, have occupied 
the middle and mountainous parts of many islands, leaving the 
coasts and plains to the fairer race. In America, where more 
than in any other portion of the globe, a satisfactory solution 
of this question might be anticipated, in consequence of the iso- 
lated situation of the continent, and the consequent escape from 
intermarriage with the other races, the facts are still more de- 
cisive. All the Americans are generally distinguished by the 
same prominent physical peculiarities. In a country stretching 
from the Arctic regions to the fifty-fifth degree of south latitude, 
this uniformity is exceedingly remarkable. The differences of 
complexion that do exist, are opposed to the opinion that the 
scale of complexion is graduated, according to the distance 
from the equatorial regions. Thus in the neighborhood of the 
Esquimaux there are tribes of a deep copper* color, while the 
fairest hues of the skin are found in the tropical countries of 
South America :f and at the remotest extremity of the conti- 
nent, the copper complexion again characterizes the Fue- 
gians.t The Indians of New Spain."' says. Humboldt, "'have 
a more swarthy complexion than the inhabitants of the warm- 
est climates of South America." * * " We found the peo- 
ple of the Rio Negro, swarthier than those of the lower Ori- 
noco, and yet the banks of the first of these rivers enjoy a much 

* Hearne. Hum. Pol. Essay, vol. i. p. 109. 

f Hum. Pers. Nar., vol. v. p. 565. etc. J King and Fitzroy. 



246 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



cooler climate, than the more northern regions." * * " We 
everywhere perceive that the color of the American depends 
very little on the local position, in which we see him."* 

It remains to inquire whether there are any historical proofs 
of the transmutation of the physical appearance of one race into 
that of another, by a change of location. A difficulty imme- 
diately arises, as to the nature of the proof usually adduced on 
this point. It is manifest that no accurate and reliable conclu- 
sion can be drawn, unless it is clearly showm that the change 
has not been produced by intermarriage, — a negative almost 
impossible to prove, unless supported by immediate and contin- 
ued observation. Thus, historical testimony of the migration 
of any people, should be accompanied with clear evidence, that 
they have not intermingled with the native race. On the other 
hand, ethnographical proof alone is almost equally inconclu- 
sive. Similarity of language is not sufficient to indicate the 
common origin of nations, for by conquest and other causes, 
native languages have sometimes been adopted by the conquer- 
ors, and at others been eradicated and supplanted. In accord- 
ance with these views, it is apparent that the instance of the 
black Jews, stated by Oldendorp to exist in Congo, is of little 
force, for it is impossible to show that their original physical 
character has been altered by climate, and not by intermarriage 
with the aboriginal tribes. The latter appears clearly to have 
been the case with some of the Jews discovered by Dr. Buchanan, 
on the coast of Malabar, and who had occupied that country 
for more than fifteen hundred years. Those of pure blood are 
called white Jews, while those who have intermarried with the 
Hindoos, are termed black Jews. The same remark applies to 

* Pol. Essay, vol. i. p. 109. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



247 



the descendants of those Arab tribes in Egypt and Nubia, some 
of which migrated to that country eleven or twelve centuries 
since.* The change of color among various portions of them 
is undoubted, but that it has been occasioned by climate, is far 
from being established, particularly as the occasional instances 
of black individuals among tribes of an olive complexion indi- 
cate that very intermixture, which it has been endeavored to 
disprove. Indeed it is conceded by Dr. Pritchard, " that there 
are no authenticated instances, either in Africa or elsewhere, 
of the transmutation of other varieties of mankind into Ne- 
groes and the arguments he has advanced, that the Barabba 
of Nubia, a copper-colored race, are the descendants of the 
Negro mountaineers of Kordofan, are met by historical proofs 
of great weight, especially when they are opposed mainly by 
linguar analogies. On the other hand, it needs no critical ex- 
amination to perceive, that however they may have originated, 
the physical peculiarities of different races have been retained 
with the greatest tenacity, under every variety of climate and 
position. The Mongols in India, the Moors in Africa, the Lap- 
landers, the Celts, and Germans in Europe, the African slaves 
in America, and the contiguous tribes of Papuas and Malays, 
in the islands of the Pacific, where they have not intermarried, 
may still, after the lapse of a long period of time be distinctly 
traced, while the Jews, exposed to the influences of every clime, 
remain an incontrovertible argument against the inefhcacy of 
climate. 

Perceiving the difficulty of deducing the origin of the races 
from climatic causes, naturalists have recently maintained that 
this diversity has arisen from a liability, existing in the human 

* Pritchard, vol. ii. pp. 342, "260. 



248 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



constitution, to wander from its primitive form in the produc- 
tion of varieties, which are continued by generation. The 
arguments in favor of this hypothesis are founded upon the 
occasional production of Albinoes, xanthous, and other va- 
rieties, by all the races, — in the existence of families possess- 
ing certain physical peculiarities, such as the Sedigiti, or six- 
fingered individuals mentioned by Pliny and by modern physi- 
ologists, and the Porcupine men described in the Philosophical 
Transactions, which monstrosities have been transmitted to their 
offspring ; and upon analogical testimony, derived from the 
animal kingdom, of similar diversities originating sporadically 
and continued by generation. And it must be admitted that 
this theory if sufficiently supported, by an irrefragable mass of 
testimony, to establish the original unity of the human race, 
and to indicate that the varieties of mankind are descended 
from the same primitive stock. Historically, however, we 
have no knowledge that the races have thus originated. — 
and, in searching for the period when men were of one form and 
appearance, we are carried back to the ages immediately suc- 
ceeding the deluge, and preceding the dispersion of nations. 
" The peculiarities which arose in the human species at a re- 
mote and unknown period, have become the characteristic 
marks of large nations ; whereas those which have made their 
appearance in later times have, in general, extended very little 
beyond the individuals in whom they first showed themselves, 
and certainly have never attained to any thing like a prevalence 
throughout whole communities. But this is a circumstance 
which it does not seem difficult to explain ; if we consider that 
ever since the population of the world has been of large amount, 
the possessors of any peculiar organization have borne such a 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



249 



very small numerical proportion to the nation to which they 
belonged, that it is no way surprising that they should soon 
have been lost in the general mass; still less that they should 
have failed to impress it, with their own peculiar characters. 
In the early period of the world, w T hen mankind, few in num- 
bers, were beginning to disperse themselves in detached bodies 
over the face of the earth, the case was altogether different; 
and we can easily understand how, if any varieties of color, 
form, or structure then originated in the human race, they 
would naturally, as society multiplied, become the characteris- 
tics of a whole nation."* 

That the physical characteristics of several of the races, as 
they now exist, are of great antiquity, and entitle them to be 
considered as primitive, will be shown hereafter, and we now 
proceed, therefore, to inquire, what is the number of primitive 
races separated and distinguished by physical differences. In 
this inquiry, as to the number of varieties that should be recog- 
nized in the human species, and the characters which mark 
them, a great diversity has existed among naturalists, arising 
from the various methods by which they have proceeded to its 
determination, and from too great an oversight of the probable 
effects, attending the intermixture of migrating tribes. Dr. 
Pritchard, after extensive research, and with an application of 
great and varied erudition, has decided upon a division of the 
human family into seven principal classes, separated by strongly 
marked lines. I. The Iranian (or Caucasian) race. II. The 
Turanian (or Mongolian). III. The Native American, ex- 
cluding the Esquimaux and some other tribes. IV. The Hot- 



Lib. U. Knowledge. 
32 



250 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

tentot and Bushman race. V. The Ethiopian (or Negro). VI. 
The Papuas of Polynesia. VII. The Alfouru and Australian 
nations.* Blumenbach, who has been followed in his classifi- 
cation by Dr. Lawrencef and other distinguished naturalists, 
after a most thorough investigation, determined upon a distri- 
bution into five leading divisions. I. The Caucasian race. II. 
The Mongolian. III. The Ethiopian. IV. The American, and 
V. The Malay. The comprehensive mind of Cuvier seems to 
have inclined him to a less complex division into three varie- 
ties. I. The Caucasian. II. The Mongolian, and III. The 
Ethiopian ; but he appears to have been undecided with re- 
spect to the specific identity of the American race with the 
Mongolian, and of the Papuas with the Negroes or Ethiopians. J 
This division into three varieties, moreover, is recommended by 
the fact, that the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiopian races, 
or as they may be styled, the white, red, and black races, are 
acknowledged by most physiologists, to possess the strongest 
marks of difference, and that they form a component part in 
nearly every complete system yet proposed. In view of the 
influences of climate, manners and customs, food, and of all 
those moral and physical circumstances which are admitted, 
even by those who maintain the original and constitutional dis- 
tinction of races, to operate 'partially upon the human confor- 
mation ; and more especially in consideration of the undoubted 
results of intermarriage, it is doubtless unphilosophical, to con- 

* Malte Bran it is said enumerates 16 different races. Linnteus 
divided mankind into five classes, and Buffon at first into six, but 
afterwards five. — Morton'' s Crania Americana^ p. 34. 

f Lawrence's Lectures on Man, p. 355. 

% Regne Animal, vol. i. p. 54, Am. Edit. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



251 



cede a greater number of primitive varieties, than are sufficient 
under the action and agency of these causes, to account for the 
great diversities of mankind at present existing. Or in other 
words, if by the admission of three primitive races, all the 
known varieties may be deduced from these, by the unquestion- 
able influence of external causes, or by intermarriage, we are 
not justified in asserting a greater number. The leading phys- 
ical peculiarities of the three great races are as follows. 

I. The Caucasian race is distinguished by a white or fair 
skin — hair fine, long, and often curling, and together with the 
eyes, of various colors — an oval face — full beard — distinct and 
finely proportioned features. The cranium is large — upper and 
anterior regions fully developed — chin full, and the teeth ver- 
tical.* 

II. The Mongolian race is characterized by a red or cop- 
per-colored complexion, varying on the one hand to a sallow 
yellow or tawny color, and on the other to a deep mahogany 
hue ; black eyes, long straight black hair, little or no beard, 
long linear or oblique eyes, high cheek bones — square and 
pyramidal head, with retreating forehead — broad and flattened 
face. 

III. The Ethiopian race is marked by a black skin — black 
eyes — black and woolly hair, prominent cheek bones — cranium 
compressed laterally and elongated towards the front — forehead 
low and narrow — jaws projecting, lips thick, and nose thick 
and flat. 

It is not to be asserted, however, that these characteristics 
are constant, — as in the white race a great variety of feature 

* Morton's Crania, p. 5. Prit, Phys. Res., vol. i. p. 262. Law- 
rence, p. 356. Cuvier, Regne Animal, vol. i. p. 52. 



252 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



and physical conformation is observable, so in the others, 
though in an inferior degree, considerable differences may be 
remarked, even among the same tribes and nations. But this 
individual dissimilarity is not generally so wide and extensive, 
as to create a doubt as to what race the individual belongs.* 
Certain portions of the human organization are so variable, as 
often to destroy all lines of distinction, so far as they are con- 
cerned, between the races; others are more permanent, and of 
consequence afford surer indications to distinguish the varieties. 
The features, intimately connected as they are with the local 
position, the moral and intellectual cultivation and faculties of 
nations, are among the former class ; the complexion, and the 
character of the hair among the latter. Having continual re- 
ference to this criterion, it will be seen that the most constant 
peculiarities of the three races consist : 1. In the complexion 
which in the pure varieties is either white, black, or of a red 
hue, varying to yellow or deep mahogany. 2. In the form of 
the skull. 3. In the hair, which is either fine, long, and cur- 
ling, and of different colors ; black and woolly, or straight, 
black and lank. 4. In the fullness of the beard. 5. In the 
position of the eyes, the obliquity of which characterizes the 
red race. 

From this preliminary review of the arguments and opin- 
ions of eminent and learned physiolgists, we proceed, with 
much diffidence, to inquire whether, of the other varieties main- 
tained to exist by naturalists, there are any entitled to be 
considered as primitive, or rather as possessing such distinctive 
characters as to forbid the probability of their being mixed races. 

* Combe's Phrenology, p. 561, etc. on the cerebral development 
of nations. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



253 



IV. The Papuas. This name is most commonly applied 
to tribes, whose color, approaching to black, varies in the 
deepness of its shade, and whose hair is neither lank nor 
absolutely woolly.* They inhabit the northern parts of New 
Guinea, the islands of New Britain and New Ireland, and other 
groups extending southward into the Pacific Ocean. Of the 
genuine Papuas it is said, that " the color of the skin is black, 
mixed with an eighth part of yellow, which imparts to it a clear 
tint of various intensity. Their hair is black, very thick, and 
moderately woolly. They wear it frizzled out in a very re- 
markable manner, or let it fall upon their necks in long and 
twisted masses. Their countenance and features are regular, 
except their noses, which are somewhat flattened, with the 
nostrils enlarged in the transverse direction. Their chins are 
small and well formed ; their cheek bones are prominent, their 
foreheads elevated, their eyebrows thick and long. Their 
beards are thin ; they let them grow upon the upper lip and chin 
like many African nations."! In this description it will be 
perceived, that there is just that degree of diversity from the - 
Ethiopian or Negro, which a slight mixture with the Malay 
islanders of the Pacific might produce. This conclusion is 
strengthened by the circumstance, that as we proceed towards 
the Malayan islands, where the races may be mixed more 
equally, we find the Papuan complexion becoming lighter 
and approaching that of the Oceanic nations. Mr. Lesson, 
who supposes them to have migrated into the islands of the 

* Prit. Phys. Res., vol. i. p. 249. 

t Memoire sur les Papouas or Papous, par MM. Lesson et Gar- 
not. Annates des Sie Nat, torn, x, 1827, p. 93, cited by Pritchard, 
vol. i. p. 251. 



254 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Pacific subsequently to the Oceanic tribes, traces a close 
resemblance between them and the dark-colored tribes of 
Madagascar, a fact which adds to the force of our conjecture, 
for in that island, as will hereafter appear, there is also a race 
not aboriginal, distinguished by an olive color, straight black 
hair and thin beard, and similar to the Malay race* in their 
leading characteristics; and from which, by intermarriage with 
the Negro, has probably originated the very variety resembling 
the Papuas. It is curious, that in America, we find the same 
consequences attending the mingling of the two races. " In 
this part" (of Brazil), say MM. Von Spix and Von Martius, 
<f we met with several families of the people called Cafusos, 
who are a mixture of blacks and Indians. Their external 
appearance is one of the strangest that a European can meet 
with. They are slender and muscular, in particular the muscles 
of the breast and arms are very strong ; the feet, on the con- 
trary, in proportion weaker. Their color is a dark copper or 
coffee brown. Their features, on the whole, have more of the 
Ethiopic than of the American race. The countenance is oval, 
the cheek-bones high, but not so broad as in the Indians ; the 
nose broad and flattened, but neither turned up nor much bent; 
the mouth broad, with thick but equal lips, which, as well as 
the lower jaw, project but little ; the black eyes have a more 
open and freer look than in the Indians, yet are still a little ob- 
lique, if not standing so much inward as in them, on the other 
hand not turning outwards as in the Ethiopians. But what 
gives these Mestizoes a peculiarly striking appearance, is the 
excessively long hair of the head, which, especially at the end, 
is half curled, and rises almost perpendicularly from the fore- 

* Ellis's Hist. Madagascar, vol. i. pp. 115, 422, and preface, p. 6. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



255 



head to the height of a foot, or a foot and a half, thus forming 
a prodigious and very ugly kind of peruke. This strange head 
of hair, which, at first sight, seems more artificial than natural, 
and almost puts one in mind of the plica polonica, is not a dis- 
ease, but merely a consequence of their mixed descent, and the 
mean between the wool of the Negro and the long stiff hair of 
the American." " This conformation of the hair gives the Ca- 
fusos a resemblance with the Papuas in JVeiv Guinea, and we 
therefore thought it interesting to give the representation of a 
woman of that race in her peculiar costume."* To this it 
needs only to add, that with the Papuas of New Guinea "the 
hair is long and woolly, and frequently forms a huge peruke 
three feet in diameter."! Thus it appears, that in three of the 
quarters of the globe, where the Negro and Mongolian races 
have intermarried, the physical result is nearly the same, a 
circumstance appearing to justify the inference, that the Papuas 
are a mixed race. 

V. The same course of remark applies to the Alfourous 
or Endamenes, who occupy the central parts of some of the 
Polynesian islands, and who, so far as our descriptions of 
them extend, seem to possess none of those distinctive peculiari- 
ties which should class them as a separate and original human 
variety. For this reason, they have been omitted in several 
systems of classification. 

VI. The Hottentots and Bushmen also have been con- 
sidered as composing a distinct race. They are of a yel- 
low or nut-brown color :J the cheek-bones are high and 

* Travels in.Brazil, vol. i. pp. 323, 324. 
t Forrest's Voyage to New Guinea. 

X Kolben's Voy., in Mavor, vol. iv. pp. 17, 18, 19. Barrow's 
Southern Africa, vol. i. pp. 157, 278. Trav. in China, p. 30. 



256 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

prominent, and with the narrow pointed chin form nearly a 
triangle ; the nose is generally flat, and the lips thick. The 
character of their hair, although not precisely woolly, approxi- 
mates them to the Negro. On the other hand, their color, 
general physiognomy, and particularly the position of the eye, 
approach the physical appearance of the Mongolian race. 
Their eyes are " so oblique, that lines drawn through the cor- 
ners would not coincide as being on the same plane and Mr. 
Barrow observes, " the color of the eyes is of a deep chestnut ; 
they are very long and narrow, removed to a great distance 
from each other ; and the eyelids at the extremity next to the 
nose, instead of forming an angle, as in Europeans, are rounded 
into each other exactly like those of the Chinese, to whom, in- 
deed, in many other points they bear a physical resemblance"* 
It has also been remarked, that besides the great likeness be- 
tween the Hottentot and Mongolian features, a close analogy 
exists between the shape of the skull in both races. It remains 
to determine what peculiarities of organization identify the 
American, Malay and Mongolian races. 

VII. The American race. In the opinion of Cuvier, the 
Americans have no precise or constant character, which can 
entitle them to be considered as a particular race, referrible to 
none of the Eastern continent,! and we accordingly find that dis- 
tinguished philosopher hesitate in extending the number of hu- 
man varieties beyond the Caucasian, Mongolian and Ethiopian. 
The American aborigines are generally distinguished by long, 
straight, black hair, great thinness of the beard, prominent 
cheek-bones, a copper or brown-red color, varying to lighter or 
darker shades, thick lips, eyes black, and often obliquely placed, 



Barrow, p. 157. 



f Regne Animal, vol. i. p. 55. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



257 



and noses either flat or aquiline.* In referring to such excep- 
tions as exist to this description, we should not forget that tribal 
distinctions are everywhere maintained with great tenacity, and, 
of consequence, that to such occasional aberrations from the 
common standard as have originated among any particular 
family, a great opportunity for perpetuation has been afForded.f 
The uniformity of the American physical appearance has, how- 
ever, struck most travellers and naturalists with great force. 
The testimony of a few may be cited, though authorities might 
easily be accumulated. 

" The Indians of New Spain," says Humboldt, " bear a 
general resemblance to those who inhabit Canada, Florida, 
Peru and Brazil. They have the same swarthy and copper 
color, flat and smooth hair, small beard, squat i)ody, long 
eye, with the corner directed upwards towards the temples, 
prominent cheek-bones, thick lips, and an expression of gentle- 
ness in the mouth strongly contrasted with a gloomy and severe 

* Charlevoix says the Indian color is not "a third species, as 
some people have imagined, between the white and black. They 
are very swarthy and of a dirty dark red, which appears more in 
Florida and Louisiana." He speaks also of the scantiness of their 
beards. — Voyage, vol. ii. p. 69. 

Dr. Morton maintains that their color is not red, but should rather 
be described as brown. 

" Their eyes," says Hennepin, speaking of the northern Indians, 
" are altogether black ; besides they differ very much in their eyelids 
from those of Europe. Hence it comes to pass that their sight is 
stronger and more piercing than ours." — Vol. ii. p. 70. 

f Hum. Pers. Nar., vol. v. p. 565. 

33 



258 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



look." " Over a million and a half of square leagues, from the 
Terra del Fuego islands, to the river St. Lawrence and Beh- 
ring's straits, we are struck at the first glance with the general 
resemblance in the features of the inhabitants."* " The In- 
dians," says Ulloa, " are of a copper color, which by the action 
of the sun and air grows darker. I must remark that neither 
heat nor cold produces any sensible change of color, so that 
the Indians of the Cordilleras of Peru are easily confounded 
with those of the hottest plains; and those who live under 
the line, cannot be distinguished by the color from those who 
inhabit the fortieth degrees of north and south latitude." " I 
had no sooner beheld these Americans," observes the enter- 
prising Ledyard of the natives of Nootka, " than I set them 
down for the same kind of people, that inhabit the opposite 
side of the continent. They are rather above the middle stat- 
ure, copper-colored, and of an athletic make ; they have long- 
black hair."f " I have been forcibly struck," says Mr. Flint, 
" with the , general resemblance in the countenance, make, 
conformation, manners and habits of the Indians. A savage of 
Canada and the Rio del Norte are substantially alike; they 
are all, in my mind, unquestionably from a common stock."! 
One testimony still more explicit, if possible, may be added : 
Ulloa, upon his return from South America, touched at Louis- 
burg, at which place, he remarks, "In this and the adjacent 
islands were a considerable number of inhabitants, born in the 
country, or on the main land; and, what is remarkable, these 

* Pol. Ess., vol. i. pp. 105, 106. f Ledyard, p. 71. 

+ Flint's Recollections, p. 137. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 259 

Indians not only resemble those of Peru in complexion and 
aspect, but there is also a considerable affinity between their 
manneis and customs; the only visible difference is in stature, 
and in this the advantage lies visibly on the side of the inhabit- 
ants of these northern climates."* 

That this uniformity is universal and applies to all the tribes 
cannot be maintained, and it would be absurd to suppose that 
it existed. But yet no varieties have been observed, which ap- 
proach the Indians anywhere near the white and black races, 
and where an exception occurs in one particular, the other pe- 
culiarities are still retained. It is true, many statements have 
been made concerning 'the existence of white and black In- 
dians, but upon examination, they are found to have proceeded 
usually from the early travellers, who were often vague and ex- 
aggerated in their use of terms ; or to have been founded upon 
misnomers; or to have related to tribes who had intermarried 
with Europeans. An instance of the erroneous conclusions 
which may be drawn from a misnomer is afforded in a tribe of 
the Caucasus,? who. though called the "black Circassians, are 
of a very fair complexion."t Thus, in America, the tribes of 
the upper Orinoco, who have been styled "White Indians," 
according to Humboldt, who had an opportunity for personal 
examination, differ from other Indians, only by a much less 
tawny skin, having at the same time, the features, the stature, 

* Voyage to S. Am., vol. ii. p. 376. 
f Mortoivs Crania, p. 8. 

X We read also in Herodotus, 5: 49, of the Leuco-Svrii. or White 
Syrians ; and even among the Mongols, there was a tribe called the 
White Calmucks, — Heeren. Bes. : vol. i. p. 1 13. and another, the Gold- 
en Horde. Pallas, i. 135. 



260 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



and the smooth, straight black hair of their race.* The Ar- 
kansas, in North America, of whom the same assertion has been 
made, though not of a copper color, are dark and tawny, and 
possess all the Indian peculiarities of form and feature/)- An 
idea may be gathered of the inaccurate notions formerly pre- 
vailing upon this subject by the assertion of Charlevoix, that 
several tribes, and among them, some of the Esquimaux, have 
white hair ; indeed he adds of the latter nation that they have 
a beard, " so thick up to their eyes, that it is difficult to distin- 
guish any features of the face " that " they are tall and pretty 
well shaped" and that " their skin is white as snow"\ Frezier 
also says, that the Fuegians are almost as white as Europeans,^ 
a statement abundantly disproved by subsequent observations. 

For the purpose of showing how restricted these apparent 
exceptions are, and in order to indicate the general predomi- 
nance of those characteristics which mark the race, it may be 
well to attempt a brief physical synopsis of the tribes, confirmed 
by the testimony of various travellers. 

The Esquimaux have generally been distinguished from the 
American race, in consequence of their color, diminutive stat- 
ure, and other peculiarities, but it is apprehended, that in pro- 
ducing these signs of difference, so far as they really exist, nat- 
ural causes, such as food, mode of life and climate, have chiefly 
operated. The strongest evidence, however, of their affiliation 
to the other Indian tribes is afforded in the physical appearance 
of the Fuegians, who occupy a region, where similar causes 
have existed and produced the same results. " The general 

* Pers. Nar., vol. v. p. 566, etc. f Nuttall's Arkansas, pp. S3. 84. 
% Voyage, vol. i. pp. 28, 34, 144. § Frezier's Voyage, p. 34. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



261 



form of the Fuegians is peculiar, the head and body being par- 
ticularly large, and the extremities unusually small ; but the 
feet are broad though short. This peculiarity, no doubt, is ow- 
ing to their mode of life, etc. From the same cause, want of 
exercise, this is the form of the Esquimaux and the Lapland- 
ers."* The Fuegians have generally straight, long, and jet 
black hair, scanty beard, a broad face, black, angular Chinese 
eyes, copper complexion and small stature. In the work just 
cited, there are several interesting descriptions of particular in- 
dividuals of this tribe, as follows. " The complexion of this 
man w T as dark, his skin of a copper color, the native hue of the 
Fuegian tribes, the eyes and hair black, — this is universal, as 
far as I have seen, and predominant throughout all the abori- 
gines of America, from the Fuegians to the Esquimaux." And 
again, " the features of this individual were rounder, than they 
generally are among those of his nation, the form of whose 
countenance resembles that of the Laplanders and Esquimaux. 
They have broad faces with projecting cheek bones ; the eyes 
of an oval form, and drawn towards the temples." The stat- 
ure of the Fuegians is generally from four feet ten inches to 
five feet six inches, and their figures are similar to those of the 
Esquimaux.! 

The Patagonians afford a striking instance, of the exagge- 
rated and gross inaccuracies, which pervade many of the ac- 
counts of the Indian tribes. Indeed it is but recently that the 

* " We have observed," says Dobrizhotfer, " some resemblance 
in the manners and customs of the Abipones, to the Laplanders and 
people of Nova Zembla." Vol. ii. p. 2. 

f Voyages of King and Fitzroy, vol. i. pp. 75, 216 ; vol. ii. pp. 
175, 215 ; vol. iii. p. 142, etc. Byron's Trav., p. 59. 



262 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



fanciful stories which had been propagated concerning- the stat- 
ure of these natives have been disproved ; and a careful exami- 
nation of all the authorities, together with the observation of 
recent voyagers, has satisfactorily shown that their height has 
been greatly over-estimated. The medium stature of this race 
appears to be from five feet ten inches to six feet. Falkner, 
however, bore impartial and correct testimony. " The Patago- 
nians, or Puelches," he says, " are a large bodied people, but I 
never heard of that gigantic race, which others have mentioned, 
though I have seen persons of all the different tribes of south- 
ern Indians." The color of the Patagonians is a rich, reddish 
brown, rather darker than copper, the head is long, broad, and 
flat, the forehead low, the face of a square form, the eyes small 
and often obliquely placed, the nose rather flat, but sometimes 
aquiline, the hair long, lank, and black, and the beard thin.* 
Proceeding to the north, the nomade Pehuenches and the Arau- 
canians, according to Mr. Poeppig, " belong to the same branch 
of the great copper-colored, or Patagonian race." The Arau- 
canians are of a reddish brown or copper color, are finely shaped 
and muscular, and have small black eyes, a broad face, flattish 
nose, coarse black hair, and no beard.f One tribe it has been 
thought offers an exception to this description, — the Boroanes, 
or Borea Indians living near Valdivia, in Chile. Some of them 
are said to have light eyes, a fair complexion and red hair.J 
Frezier disposes of this objection, for he says, in speaking 
of those who are thus distinguished, " these are descended 

* King and Fitzroy, vol. i. p. 103 ; vol. ii. pp. 134. 135. 
I" Stevenson, vol. i. p. 3. Frezier, pp. 69, 70. Molina, vol. i. p. 
234 ; vol. ii. p. 4. 

I King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. pp. 402, 465. Molina, vol. ii. p. 4. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



263 



from the women taken in the Spanish towns they destroyed 
his statement is fully confirmed also by Ulloa, who traces this 
diversity to the same cause.f 

The present Peruvian Indians, who are of the same race as 
the ancient inhabitants, are described as of a copper color, with 
high cheek bones, small black eyes set widely apart, hair coarse 
and black, without any inclination to curl, beard scanty, nose 
somewhat flattened, small stature, and the feet small:! these 
characters are of general prevalence among all the natives. 
The Bolivian Indians, according to Dr. Ruschenberger, are dark 
copper-colored, the nose is flattened, and the eyes are obliquely 
placed. 

In general, the same physical description will apply to the 
numerous hordes of Brazil.§ The Mongul physiognomy is more 
striking in these tribes, than in those of any other part of America. 
Prince Maximilian describes one of these Indians as " distin- 
guished from all the rest by his Calmuck physiognomy but 
the same characters are of almost universal prevalence. Pass- 
ing further to the north, but little variation from this type can 
be found in the tribes inhabiting Guiana and Colombia. Hum- 
boldt has termed the complexion of the Chaymas and other na- 
tives of this region, a dull brown or brown-red, inclining to a 
tawny color, and he adds that they resemble the Monguls, by 



* At Valdivia, the native race has been thought to resemble the 
Hindoos. — King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 398. Frezier, p. 70. 
f Ulloa, vol. ii. p. 287. 

I Ruschenberger, pp. 217, 380, etc. Ulloa, vol. i. pp. 281, 417. 
Stevenson, vol. i. p. 376. 

§ Graham's Voyage, p. 294. Henderson's Brazil, pp. 20S, 211. 



264 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



the form of the eye, their high cheek bones, their straight hair, 
and the almost entire absence of beard.* 

The natives of the West India Islands at the discovery con- 
sisted of two classes, differing slightly in appearance, and more 
considerably in manners and character. The Charibs, who oc- 
cupied the small islands of the southern part of this group, were 
of a fierce, cruel, and indomitable disposition. The Arrowauks, 
who resided in the larger and northernmost islands, were of a 
milder character, and appear to have possessed more of the 
arts of civilization. The Charibs were of a tawny or dark 
brown complexion, middling stature, robust and muscular, with 
small black eyes, long straight black hair, scanty beard, and 
flat retreating foreheads. The Arrowauks were taller than the 
former race, and of a reddish brown color, their foreheads 
were flat, though not so retreating as those of the Charibs, the 
hair was straight, black, and lank, the beard scanty, the eyes 
black, cheek bones prominent, the face broad and the nose flat.f 

The Mexican Indians have generally " a swarthy and copper 
color, flat and smooth hair, small beard and squat body, long 
eye, with the corner directed upwards towards the temples, 
prominent cheek bones and thick lips."j Clavigero says, that 
the moral and physical qualities of the Mexicans proper, were 
the same as those of the adjacent nations, so that the description 
of the one is equally applicable to the rest; he considers the 
color of the skin, however, as olive.§ According to Humboldt, 

* Pers. Nar.. vol. iii. p. 223. Temple's Travels, p. 67. Smyth's 
Nar., pp. 210, 223. 

f Edward's Hist. West India Islands, vol. i. pp. 36. 63. Arch. 
Am., vol. i. p. 371. 372. % Pol. Ess., vol. i. p. 105. 

§ Hist. Mex.. vol. i. p. 78. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



265 



the Aztec and Otomite tribes have more beard than the others, 
and many of them wear small mustaches. 

The aboriginal inhabitants of Upper California, when first 
observed by the early Spanish travellers, were of the same stock 
as those living in the adjoining peninsula. Though the differ- 
ent tribes varied in some unimportant particulars, they bore a 
general resemblance to each other; — and though some are de- 
scribed as of a diminutive size, they were usually of ordinary 
stature. They were of a darker color, than the natives of the 
more southern provinces, their lips were large and projecting, 
noses broad and flat, foreheads low, beard scanty, and hair 
straight and black; — long beards, it is said, have occasionally 
been observed.* This was one of the localities where Ameri- 
can negroes have been placed, an idea which the following 
passage from Venegas may possibly dispose of. " It is known," 
he says, " that some ships have left Mulattoes and Mestizoes at 
Cape San Lucas" " Father Juan detforquemada, tells us that 
the Californians showed no manner of surprise, at the sight of 
negroes, there being some of that cast among them, the race of 
those who had be°n left by a ship from the Philippine islands. "f 
The nations near the mouth of the Columbia river generally 
resemble each other in their physical appearance. Their stat- 
ure is diminutive, " the complexion is the usual copper-colored 
brown of the North xA.merican tribes, though rather lighter than 
that of the Indians of the Missouri ;" the mouth is wide and 
the lips are thick, the nose is wide at the extremity, and low 
between the eyes, the eyes are generally black, the face broad, 

* Forbes' California, pp. 180, 183. La Perouse. Beechey, pp. 
304, 337. Handy's Trav. in Mexico, p. 289. 

t Hist. California, vol. i. pp. 58, 94 ; vol. ii. pp. 238, 354. 

34 



266 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



forehead flat, and the hair straight and black. The form of the 
forehead arises from artificial compression of the cranium, which 
is carried to such an extent, that the forehead often runs in a 
straight line from the nose to the crown of the head.* Further 
to the North and along the Pacific, tribes have been observed, 
which are said to be distinguished by a lighter complexion. 
The Cheyennes and other tribes on the shores of the south- 
western tributaries of the Missouri, though differing somewhat 
in features and size, " still, in the direction of the eye, the prom- 
inence of the cheek bones, the form of the lips, chin, and re- 
treating forehead, are precisely similar " to the Missouri In- 
dians.! 

The Osages are a fine race of men, tall, well made, of a 
tawny red color, with aquiline features, prominent cheek bones 
and straight black hair. " They do not seem to differ in point 
of features and color from the Missouri Indians ; their stature 
is by no means inferior ttfthe latter." Mr. Brackenridge also 
remarks of this tribe, that " they have been noted for their un- 
common stature. This is somewhat exaggerated, though they 
are undoubtedly above the ordinary size of men. The wan- 
dering, or semi-wandering nations of Louisiana maybe cha- 
racterized as exceeding the whites in stature."J The Arkansas 
are dark, but not copper-colored, they possess fine aquiline fea- 
tures, scanty beards, long black hair and elongated angular 



* Lewis and Clarke, vol. ii. pp. 12, 131. Cox's Adventures on 
Columbia river, p. 69, 121. 

f Long's Expedition, vol. ii. p. 180. 

X Ibid., vol. ii. p. 242. Description of the Red River, p. 107. Nut- 
tail's Arkansas, p. 186. Brackenridge's Views, p. 69. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 267 

eyes.* The same general characteristics as those already in- 
dicated, with the exception of a greater prominence of the 
cheek-bones, mark the Sioux, Pawnees, and other tribes inhabit- 
ing the region west of the Mississippi. The Mandans, how- 
ever, appear to have a lighter color,. and though possessing the 
Indian form in other respects, their hair in some instances is of 
a light chestnut color and the eyes are of a bluish cast. But 
connected as they are by affinities in language to other tribes, 
whose Indian physiognomy cannot be doubted, it is possible 
that these peculiarities have been produced by an intermixture 
of the race. 

" We see nothing," says Charlevoix. " in the outward ap- 
pearance of the Natchez, that distinguishes them from the other 
savages of Canada and Louisiana ;"f the same appears to have 
been the case with all the southern Indians, and a description 
of one tribe, will therefore answer for the rest. " The Chicka- 
saws," says Mr. Adair, " are a comely, pleasant looking people. 
Their faces are tolerably round, contrary to the visage of the 
Choctaws, which inclines much to flatness, as is the case of most 
of the other Indian Americans. The lips of the Indians in gene- 
ral are thin, their eyes are small, sharp and black, and their hair 
is lank, coarse and darkish ; they pluck their beards."l 

The similarity in the physical appearance of the numerous 
tribes of the Algonquin-Lenape race and of the Iroquois was 
equally striking. Smith describes the Towhatans as generally 
tall and of good proportions, with a brown color, black hair, 



* Nuttall's Arkansas, pp. 83. 84. Charlevoix, Yoy., vol. ii. p. 1S5. 
t Charlevoix, Voyage, vol. ii. p. 195. 
+ Hist. Am. Ind., pp. 5, 6. 



268 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



and little beard.* Loskiel says that " the Delawares and Iro- 
quois, and other nations in league with them, resemble each 
other much, both as to their bodily and mental qualifications. 
# * * Their skin is of a reddish brown, nearly resembling 
copper, but in different shades. Some are of a brown yellow, 
not much differing from the mulattoes ; some light brown, 
hardly to be known from a brown European, except by their 
hair and eyes. The former is jet black, stiff, lank and coarse, 
and almost like horse hair."f Smith describes the Iroquois as 
tall, beardless, of a tawny complexion, and having black un- 
curled hair ;J and Charlevoix, as of a lofty stature, with black 
hair and a scanty beard. " The color of the savages," he says, 
" does not prove a third species between the white and black, 
as some people have imagined. They are very swarthy and of 
a dirty dark red." The Knisteneaux, a branch of the Algon- 
quin race, who had penetrated the farthest towards the north- 
east, and inhabited the territory from the Atlantic to the shores 
of Hudson's Bay, the St. Lawrence and Churchill rivers, are de- 
scribed by Mr. McKenzie§ " as of moderate stature. Their com- 
plexion is of a copper-color, and their hair black, which is com- 
mon to all the natives of North America. It is cut in various 
forms according to the fancy of the several tribes, and by some 
is left in the long lank flow of nature. They very generally 



* Voyages and Discoveries, vol. i. p. 128. 

f History, etc., p. 12. Van Der Donck's New Netherlands, N. 
Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. i. p. 190. De Laet, ibid. p. 312. 

I Smith's Hist. N. Y., vol. i. p. 69. Charlevoix, vol. ii. pp. 60, 
69. This author fell also into the erroneous notion that the Indians 
were born white. 

§ McKenzie's Journal, p. 387. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



269 



extract their beards," " their eyes are black, keen and pene- 
trating — their countenance open and agreeable." Some indi- 
viduals have been seen with full beards.* The tract of country 
situated to the north-west of the Knisteneaux is inhabited by 
the Chippewyans — all the territory between 60° and 65° N. 
L. and Long. 110 and 100 West, they consider as their lands 
and home. But tribes of this race border in the east on the 
Knisteneaux, and extend on the west to the Pacific, and on the 
north to the territory of the Esquimaux. At least this is to be 
inferred from ethnographical analogies, for tribes who speak 
their language are found over this vast district even as far south 
as Lat. 52 North, on the Columbia river.f " Their complexion 
is swarthy," says McKenzie, " their features coarse, and their 
hair lank — but not always of a dingy black — nor have they 
universally the piercing eye which generally animates the In- 
dian countenance." " The men in general extract their beards, 
though some of them are seen to prefer a bushy black beard, to 
a smooth chin." J The tribes situate to the westward in the 
vicinity of the Pacific, have been described in a similar manner, 
with the exception of their complexion, which is said to be of a 
" light copper-color,"§ accompanied with long lank hair and 
black eyes. Mr. Hearne remarks of these Indians, that their 
complexion " is somewhat of the copper cast, inclining rather 
towards a dingy brown," that their foreheads are low, cheek 
bones high, eyes small, and their hair black, strong and straight. 

* A General History of the Fur Trade, p. 89. 
f McKenzie's Journal, p. 3S7. Hist. Fur Trade, p. 111. Cox's 
Adventures on the Columbia River, appendix, pp. 334, 331. 
t Hist. Fur Trade, p. 114. 
§ Cox, p. 324. 



270 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

" Few of the men have any beard ; this seldom makes its ap- 
pearance until they arrive at middle age."* 

The Esquimaux inhabit all the northern regions of the 
continent stretching ale ng the Arctic seas from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific, and a considerable distance south along the shores 
of the two oceans. The western tribes appear to be the most 
assimilated to the general type of the American race, and as 
their language and customs connect them with those towards 
the east, it is possible that the varieties observed in the color 
and features of the latter are owing to foreign causes. Gen- 
erally upon the northern coast opposite to Asia, the inhabitants 
are stout and short, of a swarthy color, with thick lips, black 
eyes and hair, thin beard, and high cheek bones.f Further to 
the east, the Esquimaux met by Hearne,on the Coppermine river, 
are described as of small stature, and a dirty copper-colored 
complexion, though some of the women are more fair. J Ac- 
cording to Crantz this race are of a dwarfish size, the face is 
broad and flat, the cheek bones high, the eyes black, the hair 
long, straight and black, and the hands and feet small. § Their 
color, he says, is olive, though there are some who have a mo- 
derately white skin, hut the children are born white. Cap- 
tain Back in Lat. 67° Long. 94° observed Esquimaux who had 
a luxuriant growth of beard ; their eyes were obliquely placed ; 
and it is remarkable that they were not tattooed. 

" The male Esquimaux have rather a prepossessing physi- 

* Hearne's Journey, p. 305. 

f History Kamtschatka, pp. 46, 47. Coxe's Russ. Disc, pp. 146, 
256. Beechey's Nar., p. 210. 
X Hearne's Journey, p. 166. 
§ Hist. Greenland, vol. i. 133. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 271 

ognomy, but with very high cheek bones, broad foreheads and 
small eyes, rather farther apart than those of a European. The 
corners of their eyelids are drawn together so close, that none 
of the white is to be seen ; their mouths are wide and their 
teeth wide and regular. The complexion is a dusky yellow, 
but some of the young women have a little color bursting 
through th^ dark tint. The noses of the men are rather flat- 
tened, but those of the women are rather prominent. The 
males are, generally speaking, between five feet five inches and 
five feet eight inches high, bony and broad shouldered, but do 
not appear to possess much muscular shape." " But the most 
surprising peculiarity of this people is the smallness of their 
hands and feet."* Captain Graah says, "the Greenlanders 
inhabiting the southern part of the west coast, (and it is to be 
observed, this is the coast upon which the ancient Icelandic set- 
tlements were probably made,) have little in their exterior in 
common with genuine Esquimaux ; and the inhabitants of the 
country about the bay of Disco in North Greenland, and the 
natives of the east coast seem to me to have still less. They 
have neither the full fleshy person, nor the prominent paunch 
of the Esquimaux, but are on the contrary slender and even 
meager. They are moreover distinguished from the Esquimaux, 
by a uniformity of head and cast of countenance which is hand- 
somer and more expressive. The women and children have 
many of them brown hair, and a complexion scarcely less fair 
than that of our peasantry," etc. " But as I should not venture 
to conclude, that the Esquimaux about Hudson's Bay have any 
claims to the honor of a Roman parentage from the circum- 

* Chappell's Narrative, p. 9. A Voyage to Hudson's Bay, pp. 
58, 59. 



272 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



stance of Sir Edward Parry's having seen many a good Roman 
nose among them, neither do I conceive, that the natives of the 
east coast of Greenland are descended from the old Icelandic 
colonies, because in some points they resemble Europeans. 
Their lank hair, their black and somewhat Chinese eyes, their 
disproportionally large hands and feet, their temper and dis- 
position, their manners, customs and language, all indicate that 
they are of the same stock originally with the Esquimaux." 
" Some few of them wear beards and mustaches, but by far 
the greater number eradicate the beard as it appears." Cap- 
tain Parry says of some Esquimaux, North Lat. 67° Long. 85°, 
" their countenances at the time impressed me with the idea of 
Indian rather than of Esquimaux features — but this variety of 
physiognomy we afterwards found not to be uncommon among 
these people."* 

The same traveller in his general description of those at 
Winter island and Igloolik, observes that they are of low sta- 
ture, their hands and feet are remarkably small, their faces are 
generally round and full, eyes small and black, nose also small 
and sunk far in between the cheek bones, but not much flat- 
tened. " In the young of both sexes the complexion is clear and 
transparent, and the skin smooth. The color is scarcely a shade 
darker than that of a deep brunette, so that the blood is plainly 
perceptible when it mounts into the cheeks ; the eyes are not 
horizontal, but much lower at the end next to the nose, than 
at the other. The hair is black, glossy and straight. The 
men wear the hair on the upper lip and chin from one to 
one and a half inches in length, — and some were distinguished 



Parry's Second Voyage, p, 73. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



273 



by a little tuft between the chin and lower lip.* It seems 
most probable, therefore, that the aberrations from the general 
physical standard, observed in the eastern Esquimaux, have 
been occasioned by a European intermixture; by intermar- 
riages, probably, with the lost Icelandic colonists alluded to 
by Captain Graah. Of the western branches of the race 
the color and features are essentially the same as those which 
characterize the aborigines generally. It thus appears that 
a most striking physical uniformity prevails among all the 
American tribes, that the variations from the predominant type 
are trifling and infrequent, and where they do exist, may in 
several cases be traced to intermarriages w T ith individuals of 
the white or black race.f 

It remains to inquire whether the ancient and civilized na- 
tions of the United States, Peru, and Mexico belonged to the 
same race. If the tribes now inhabiting Mexico and Peru are 
to be regarded as the descendants of those nations, the question 
would meet an easy solution ; but the peculiar conformation of 
the ancient skulls found in the mounds, and the singular phys- 
iognomy observed in the human representations upon the Mex- 
ican paintings and monuments, afford some cause for hesitation. 
But it should be remembered that in the early stages of art, 
there is a tendency to delineate monstrous and exaggerated fig- 
ures, which at a subsequent period, when more elegance and 
correctness are attained, custom, prejudice and superstition 
having once rendered sacred, are never abandoned. The 
Egyptians, says Plato, having once determined upon the forms 

* Parry's Second Voyage, p. 405. 

f The light complexion of some of the Botocudos in Brazil has 
been traced to the same cause. 

35 



274 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



to be exhibited in their paintings and sculptures, it was no 
longer lawful for painters or other imitative artists to attempt 
any innovation. That such an arbitrary rule prevailed in Mex- 
ico, where, from the absence of the art of writing, it became 
necessary to adhere to the forms which had been adopted in 
their hieroglyphical paintings, not only appears reasonable, but 
is manifest by the most cursory examination of the picture- 
writings. Accordingly we find in some cases, particularly in 
their sculpture, when it was designed to represent real individ- 
uals, that the style is changed, and the figures approach nearer 
to the present Indian physiognomy. In one respect the repre- 
sentations on the monuments and paintings are assimilated to 
the type of the Red race ; for with the exception of some sa- 
cred figures probably intended to denote the white and bearded 
Quetzalcoatl, they are all delineated as beardless.* The enor- 
mous size of the nose, which it is difficult to suppose ever char- 
acterized any people, was naturally exaggerated by the first 
artists, in consequence of the retreating forehead, with which 
it was accompanied. / The custom of cranial compression was 
common to many American nations, and may be clearly traced, 
not only to the barbarous, but civilized races. The unusual 
forms thus given to the skull are not universally the same. Thus 
Charlevoix observes, " there are on this continent some nations, 
which they call Flat-heads, which have, in fact, their foreheads 
very flat, and the top of their heads somewhat lengthened. This 
shape is not the w T ork of nature : it is the mothers who give it 
to their children, as soon as they are born. For this end, they 

* This is the case also with the sculptured and earthenware figures 
found in the mounds of the United States. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



275 



apply to their foreheads, and the back part of their heads, two 
masses of clay, or of some other heavy matter, which they hind 
by little and little, till the skull has taken the shape they desire 
to give it. * * * It is quite the reverse with certain Al- 
gonquins amongst us, named Round-heads, or Bowl-heads, 
(Tetes de Boules,) whom I have mentioned before, for they 
make their beauty consist in having their heads perfectly round, 
and mothers take care also very early to give them this shape."* 
Adair describes another form among the Choctaws and other 
southern tribes. " The Indians flatten their heads," he remarks, 
" in divers forms, but it is chiefly the crown of the head they 
depress. * * The Choctaw Indians flatten their foreheads 
from the top of the head to the eyebrows, with a small bag of 
sand ; which gives them a hideous appearance, as the forehead 
naturally shoots upwards, according as it is flattened; thus the 
rising of the nose, instead of being equi-distant from the begin- 
ning of the chin to that of the hair, is by their wild mechanism 
placed a great deal nearer to the one and further from the other." 
The same practice, he adds, prevails among the tribes "around 
South Carolina and all the way to New Mexico."-f Accord- 
ingly we find that the Waxsaws and Natchez distorted the nat- 
ural shape of the head by similar artificial means.J The Flat- 
head tribes west of the Rocky mountains and on the Columbia 
river have carried the same custom to a frightful extent ; their 
heads present an inclined plane from the crown to the upper 
part of the nose, — a peculiarity which is produced in the fol- 



* Voyage, vol. i. pp. 83, 84. 

t Adair's Hist. N. Am. Indians, p. 8. 

I Morton's Crania, pp. 161, 162. 



276 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



lowing manner. " Immediately after birth, the infant is placed 
in a kind of oblong cradle, formed like a trough, with moss un- 
der it. One end, on which the head reposes, is more elevated 
than the rest. A padding is then placed on the forehead, with 
a piece of cedar bark over it, and by means of cords passed 
through small holes, on each side of the cradle, the padding is 
pressed against the head. It is kept in this manner upwards 
of a year. * * When released from this inhuman process, 
the head is perfectly flattened, and the upper part of it seldom 
exceeds an inch in thickness."* 

The Charibs compressed the heads of their infants by boards 
and ligatures, and rendered the forehead so flat, "that they 
could see perpendicularly when standing erect ;"f and the 
Arrowauks practised the same custom, endeavoring, however, 
to give the crown of the head a greater elongation. 

In South America, according to Condamine, " the appella- 
tion Omaguas, in the language of Peru, as well as Cambevas 
in that of Brazil, given to the same people by the Portuguese 
of Para, signifies Flat-heads. For they have the whimsical 
custom of pressing between two plates the forehead of their 
newly born children, in order to give them this singular shape, 
and make them, as they say, resemble the full moon."i " Among 
the variety of singular customs prevailing in these nations," 
says Ulloa, " one cannot help being surprised at the odd taste 



* Ross Cox's Adventures on the Columbia River, pp. 69, 166. 
Lewis and Clarke, vol. ii. p. 131. 

t Sheldon, in Arch. Am., vol. i. p. 372. Lawrence's Lectures, 
p. 237. 

X Condamine, in Pinkerton, vol. xiv. p. 226. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



277 



of the Omaguas, a people otherwise so sensible, who, to render 
their children what they call beautiful, flatten the fore and hind 
parts of the head, which gives them a monstrous appearance ; 
for the forehead grows upwards, in proportion as it is flattened, 
so that the distance from the rising of the nose to the beginning 
of the hair, exceeds that from the lower part of the nose to the 
bottom of the chin. And the same is observable in the back 
part of the head : the sides also are very narrow from a natural 
consequence of the 'pressure ; as thus, the parts pressed, instead 
of spreading conformable to the common course of nature, grow 
upwards. This practice is of great antiquity among them, and 
kept up so strictly, that they make a jest of other nations call- 
ing them calabash-heads. In order to give children this beau- 
tiful flatness, the upper part of the head is put, soon after their 
birth, betwixt two pieces of board, and this is repeated from 
time to time, till they have brought the head to the fashionable 
form."* The Mantas, consisting of several tribes subdued by 
the Incas, are described by Garcillasso de la Vega, as having 
their heads very much deformed. " As soon as their children 
w T ere born, they applied to the front of the head and the back 
of the neck two small boards, between which they compressed 
the head, until they had arrived to the age of five years ; and 
by these means the head became flat and very long"\ There 
are various authorities to show that artificial pressure of the 
cranium was common to many Peruvian nations, and none 
more satisfactory than the decree of the Synod of Lima, (passed 
1585,) cited by Blumenbach, which prohibited the custom, — at 

* Ulloa, vol. i. p. 411. 

t " Sur le front, et sur le chignon de cou." — Fr. Trans., 1737. 



278 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



the same time alluding to it as formerly universal in Peru.* 
Dr. Morton has traced it likewise into Venezuela and Nicara- 
gua. The same learned naturalist in his researches into Amer- 
ican craniology has arrived at the conclusions, that the Ameri- 
can nations, excepting the Polar tribes, are of one race and one 
species, but of two great families, which resemble each other in 
physical, but differ in intellectual character, and that the cra- 
nial remains discovered in the mounds, from Peru to Wisconsin, 
belong to the same race, and probably to the Toltecan family. 
The skulls from the mounds are described as being flattened on 
the occiput and frontal bones, " in such manner as to give the 
whole head a sugar-loaf or conical form, whence also their 
great lateral diameter and their narrowness from back to front," 
and the result of his investigation seems to be, that this peculiar 
configuration, as well as that of the Mexican heads represented 
in their sculptures and paintings, appears to result in part from 
the application of mechanical pressure. // 

But there are other crania brought by Mr. Pentland from 
Peru, which it is supposed belong to an ancient and extinct 
race. They are remarkable for their unusually great length 
and narrowness ; the face is very projecting, the forehead re- 
treating, so that the facial angle is smaller than in any known 
race of men ; the os frontis is continued far backwards towards 
the vertex, and is very long, narrow and flat. By the discovery 
of these skulls the interesting question has been presented to 
naturalists, whether they are of a natural form, or altered by art. 
Professor Tiedemann says, " a careful examination of these skulls 

* Lawrence's Lectures, p. 237. Ruschenberger. Morton's Cra- 
nia, p. 147. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



279 



has convinced me that their peculiar shape cannot be owing to 
artificial pressure. The great elongation of the face, and the 
directionof the plane of the occipital bone are not to be recon- 
ciled with this opinion, and therefore we must conclude that 
the peculiarity of shape depends on a natural conformation. If 
this view of the subject be correct, it follows that these skulls 
belonged to a race of men now extinct, and which differed from 
any now existing." But it is clear that the habit of mechani- 
cal compression of the head w T as common to many American 
nations, and prevalent in Peru. " There is no race on the 
globe," says Humboldt, " in which the frontal bone is more 
depressed backwards, than the American." * * " The cus- 
tom of flattening the head had its origin, in the idea that beauty 
consists in such a form of the frontal bone as to characterize the 
race in a decided manner." In fact Waldeck saw in Yucatan 
profiles of the present Indian race, similar to those sculptured at 
Palenque ; # those ancient profiles, he says, are at an angle of 74°, 
which must be attributed to the custom of flattening the head. 
It is true these differ in form from those of Peru under consider- 
ation, but the alteration by compression has been as great. In 
view of the various processes which were used, the nature of 
the substances w T hich were applied, and the parts which were 
compressed, it does not seem improbable that the singularly 
shaped Peruvian skulls may have been altered by artificial 
means. The tendency of the cranium to lateral expansion under 
a pressure from the front and back, which does not appear to 
have taken place in these heads, may have been prevented by 
ligatures or other mechanical applications to the sides of the 



* Voyage Pittoresque, p. 24. 



280 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



head. The testimony of Dr. Pritchard is strongly to this 
point ; " it is more probable," he says, " that the ancient skulls 
of Titicaca owed their strange configuration to a process, which 
we know is capable of explaining the phenomena, than that 
they constituted an original race, a circumstance of which we 
have no other evidence than that derived from the shape of the 
cranium.* Professor Scouler has given the sketch of an infant 
skull of one of the Columbian tribes, which is as much elongated 
as the skulls brought by Mr. Pentland from Titicaca. "f It thus 
appears that there are no decided and general characteristics yet 
clearly ascertained, which separate any of the ancient civilized 
nations from the great American family, — nor any peculiar cra- 
nial conformations, which might not be justly attributed to the 
prevalent custom of altering the head by mechanical applica- 
tions, so as to produce that form, which, according to aboriginal 
notions, possessed the highest degree of beauty. 

In the prosecution of our inquiry as to the number of prim- 
itive races, it becomes necessary to examine in the next place, 
in what points of physical appearance the American and Mon- 
golian races are assimilated. 

The Mongolian variety. The Mongols have exercised an 
important influence in the affairs of Oriental Asia, having at 
different periods subjected Hindostan, Siam, Thibet and China. 
Hordes of this race roam over the vast regions of Siberia, and 
are found wandering from China to the banks of the Dneiper ;t 
and it is probable that in ages far beyond the scope of authen- 

* The hair upon these heads certainly establishes one point of 
connection with the Red race, for it is uniformly lank, long and black, 
f Pritchard's Physical Researches, vol. i. pp. 316. 320. 
X Dr. Clarke's Travels, part i. pp. 155, 159. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



281 



tic history they have been distributed still more widely. Con- 
siderable confusion has been occasioned by the incorrect appli- 
cation of the term Tartars to the Turkish race, an appellation 
which is now too well settled to admit of change. It appears 
to have been originally applied by Asiatic writers to the Mon- 
gol race, and when the Turkish tribes were subdued by them, 
the name passed from the princes, who were Mongols, to their 
subjects. " Remusat, who, with Klaproth, had determined the 
original identity of the Mongols and Tartars, proposed to con- 
fine the latter appellation to the former race. But in the utter 
commixture of the northern tribes, to use Tartar as a generic 
name, would lead but to further confusion."* The Tartars, as 
the term is now understood, belong to the Caucasian family, and 
in their physical characteristics they are distinguished by an oval 
head, a fresh, white complexion, and great beauty and symmetry 
of countenance.! The Mongol physiognomy is widely differ ent, 
and is nearly allied to the American ; the complexion is describ- 
ed by most physiologists as of an olive or yellow color, but as 
will be seen, there are some tribes in Siberia of a regular cop- 
per color. Commencing on the western shore of Behring's 
straits, we find the Tchutski, who are divided into two classes, 
the Sedentary and the Wandering. They may be clearly iden- 
tified with the American family, as well by their language^ as 
by their manners, customs and appearance, and it is thought 
they are of American origin. They speak the same language, 



* Travels by Rose, Ehrenburgh and Von Humboldt, in For. 
Q,uar. Rev., No. 40. 

t Tooke, vol. i. p. 280 ; vol. ii. p. 44. 

I Arch. Am., vol. ii. p. 10. Cochrane's Pedestrian Tour, pp. 203, 
198, 274. 

36 



282 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



however, as the Koriacks, or Korceiki, a tribe in their vicinity. 
The resemblance in their customs to those of the Americans is 
not peculiar to this nation, but is common to many others of 
Siberia, and no argument therefore in favor of their American 
origin can be drawn from that circumstance.* " From what I 
have seen of the Koriacks," says Cochrane, " I have no doubt of 
their being of the same tribe as the Tchutski ; they have the 
same features, manners and customs, and the same language." 
According to a Russian author of great authority, " the lan- 
guage of the Tchutski is derived from that of the Koreki, and 
differs from it in dialect only ;"f " they agree in most of their 
customs and habits with the Kamtschatdales," and " the Tchutski 
should be accounted a race of the Koreki." The Koriacks are 
also divided into two tribes; the wandering family are of 
smaller stature. They are described as having long black hair, 
small eyes, a short nose, and large mouth.J Strahlenburgh says 
that they have no beards, but only a few loose hairs scattered 
over their chins. " The Lutorzi," he adds, (the Tchutski ?) 
" who live eastward of the former, and towards the coast of the 
main ocean, were as to shape, customs and language, the very 
same with the Koroeiki, except that they made their habitations 
under ground." " They are beardless like the Laplanders, 
Samoides and Ostiacs ; for in the first place they have naturally 
very little hair about the mouth, and what little they have, 
they pluck out, as do also the Yakuti, Tungusi and Kalmucks"^ 

* See Plescheef, pp. 49, 52. Sauer's Expedition, pp. 254, 257, 
322. Pennant, vol. i. p. 264. Ledyard, 246. 

t Krasheninicoff's Hist. Kamtschatka, trans, by Grieve, p. 47. 
+ Ibid. p. 222. 

§ Strahlenburgh, appendix, pp. 458, 396. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



283 



The Kamtschatdales are swarthy, of a small stature, have 
straight black hair, high cheek bones, oblique eyes and scanty 
beard. It has been supposed of this people, as well as of the 
Tchutski, that they were of American origin ; an idea which 
Captain Cochrane pronounces ridiculous.* 

The Yakuts are of a low stature, with long black hair, but 
little beard, and " their complexion is a light copper-color.' ; f 
The Mantchoos belong to the Tongoo, or Tungusi race, and 
resemble them in appearance and features ;J and the latter, be- 
sides the oblique eye, black hair and slender beard of the Mon- 
gols, are described as " copper-colored."§ 

The Burretti, the Calmucks, and the Mongols near Bogdo, 
are all described as of a complexion varying from a yellow or 
swarthy hue to a brownish red or copper-color, with small 
beards, black hair, and oblique eyes.|| 

The Chinese, Japanese, Siamese and other inhabitants of 
Indo-China, all present the same general physical type, modi- 
fied in various degrees, but conforming in a great measure to 
the characters of the Mongols ; and the same race appears to 
have penetrated into Thibet, Bootan, and Nepaul.1T The close 
analogy which exists between the Mongol and American fam- 
ilies, notwithstanding certain diversities which have been ob- 
served, cannot be better illustrated than by the testimony of 



* Pedestrian Journey, pp. 293, 294. f Ibid. p. 327. 

I Coxe's Russ. Disc, p. 197. 

§ Cochrane, p. 140, 141. Ledyard, p. 243. 

II Plescheef, p. 67. Tooke, vol. ii. p. 282. Cochrane, p. 95. 

T[ Crawfurd's Siam, vol. ii. p. 3. Cuvier, Regne Animal, vol. i. 
p. 54. 



2S4 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

travellers, and of those who have had personal opportunities for 
direct comparison. 

" There is a great resemblance in feature." says Mr. An- 
drews, "between these Indians alons: the banks of the Rio 
Chico in South America, and some of the people I have seen 
in the east, especially the mixed breed of Chinese and Malay 
in Java. The high cheek bone, sharp angular eyes, and small 
beards, agree."* 

"I shall only remark further,*'" observes Mr. Bell, "'that 
from all the accounts I have heard and read, of the natives of 
Canada, there is no nation in the world which they so much 
resemble as the Tongoos."f 

'•'The American race,'*" says Humboldt. has a striking" re- 
semblance to the Mongol nations, which include those formerly 
called Huns. Kulans, and Kalmucks." 

" The A iceroy of Brazil retains a dozen of the native Indians 
in his service, as rowers of his barge. We observed the Tartar 
or Chinese features, particularly the eye, strongly marked in 
the countenances of these Indians. The copper tinge was rather 
deeper than the darkest of the Chinese, but their beards, being 
mostly confined to the upper lip, and the point of the chin, to- 
gether with their strong black hair, bore a very near resem- 
blance. "J 

Chinese colonists have been imported into Brazil, and afford 
a valuable opportunity of contrasting their appearance with the 
native Americans. " The physiognomy of the Chinese colon- 

* Andrews' Travels in S. Am., p. 76. 
| Bell's Journey, p. 176. 
% Barrow's Travels, p. 30. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



285 



ists," say Spix and Martius, £< was particularly interesting to 
us, and was in the sequel still more so, because we thought we 
could perceive in them, the fundamental lines which are re- 
marked in the Indians. The figure of the Chinese is indeed 
rather more slender, the forehead broader, the lips thinner and 
more alike, and the features in general more delicate and mild, 
than those of the American who lives in the woods ; yet the 
small, not oblong, but roundish, angular, rather pointed head, 
the broad crown, the prominent sinus frontales, the low fore- 
head, the pointed and projecting cheek bones, the oblique posi- 
tion of the small narrow eyes, the blunt, proportionally small, 
broad flat nose, the thinness of the hair on the chin, and the 
other parts of the body, the long smooth black hair of the head, 
the yellowish or bright reddish tint of the skin, are all charac- 
teristics common to the physiognomy of both races. The mis- 
trustful, cunning, and, as it is said, often thievish character, and 
the expression of a mean way of thinking, and mechanical dis- 
position appear in both, in the same manner. In comparing 
the Mongol physiognomy with the American, the observer has 
opportunity enough to find traces of the series of developments, 
through which the eastern Asiatic had to pass, under the influ- 
ence of the climate, in order to be transformed into an Ameri- 
can. In these anthropological investigations we arrive at the 
remarkable result, that certain characteristics, which consti- 
tute the principal difference of the races, do not easily pass into 
others, whereas, those which depend only upon more or less, 
gradually vanish or degenerate, through a series of different 
gradations."* 



* Travels in Brazil, vol. i. p. 277. 



286 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Of the Chiriguanos, a Peruvian tribe, Mr. Temple says, 
" They are of a copper-color, approaching to sallowness, with 
long shining black hair, and as the Indians of South America 
generally are, without beards. Had I seen them in Europe I 
should have supposed them to be Chinese, so closely do they 
resemble those people in their features."* 

" In some points of physiology," remarks Mr. Davis of the 
Chinese, " the people whom we describe bear a considerable 
resemblance to the North American Indians. There is the same 
lank, black, and shining hair, the same obliquity of the eyes ? 
and eyebrows turned upwards at the outer extremities, and a 
corresponding thinness, and tufty growth of beard. The Chi- 
nese, too, is distinguished by a nearly total absence of hair from 
the surface of the body. * * * We may remark here that 
the Esquimaux, as represented in the plates to Captain Lyon's 
Voyage, bear a very striking resemblance to the Tau-kea, or 
* boat-people ' of the coast of China, who are treated by the 
government as a different race from those on shore, and not 
allowed to intermarry with them. Whether the miserable in- 
habitants of the cold regions to the north, have thus migrated 
southward, along the coast, at some former periods, in search of 
a more genial climate, must be a mere matter of conjecture, in 
the absence of positive proof. "f 

Mr. Ledyard, who had personal opportunities of observing 
the peculiar physiognomy of the American Indians, and who 
had travelled through Siberia, is still more positive in his asser- 
tions, as to the resemblance between the Americans and Mon- 
gols. His testimony being of the highest kind, deduced from 

* Temple's Travels in Peru, vol. ii. p. 184. 
f The Chinese, by I. F. Davis, vol. i. p. 251. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



287 



his own personal examination, we shall quote extensively from 
his remarks upon this subject, premising that in his use of the 
term Tartar, he applied it to all those tribes possessing the 
Mongol physical characteristics. In a letter to Mr. Jefferson, 
from Siberia,* he says, " I shall never be able, without seeing 
you in person, and perhaps not then, to inform you how univer- 
sally and circumstantially the Tartars resemble the aborigines 
of America. They are the same people — the most ancient and 
the most numerous of any other ; and had not a small sea di- 
vided them, they would all have been still known by the same 
name." * * "I know of no people among whom there is 
such a uniformity of features, (except the Chinese, the Jews, 
and the Negroes,) as among the Asiatic Tartars. They are 
distinguished indeed by different tribes, but this is only nominal. 
Nature has not acknowledged the distinction, but, on the con- 
trary, marked them, wherever found, with the indisputable 
stamp of Tartars. Whether in Nova Zembla, Mongolia, 
Greenland, or on the banks of the Mississippi, they are the same 
people, forming the most numerous, and, if we must except the 
Chinese, the most ancient nation of the globe : but I, for my- 
self, do not except the Chinese, because I have no doubt of their 
being of the same family." * * "I am certain that all 
the people you call red people on the continent of America, 
and on the continents of Europe and Asia as far south as 
the southern parts of China, are all one people, by whatever 
names distinguished, and that the best general name would 
be Tartar. I suspect that all red people are of the same 
family." And again : " With respect to the national or gene- 



* Spark's Life of Ledyard, pp.66, 201, 246, 255. 



288 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



alogical connection which the remarkable affinity of person 
and manners bespeaks between the Indians on this and on 
the American continent, I declare my opinion to be, without 
the least scruple and with the most absolute conviction, that 
the Indians on the one and on the other are the same people." 

The Malays. In the vast insular regions of the Pacific, 
Indian and Southern oceans, it is supposed several distinct vari- 
eties of the human family have been traced. 

That class which resembles the Negroes, and which, to- 
gether with its various intermixtures, has been found inhabiting 
New Holland, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Van Diemen's 
Land, the Andaman, Philippine, Molucca, Fejee and other 
neighboring islands, we have already adverted to. The other 
comprises all those nations denominated Malays and Polyne- 
sians, and which, from a general and striking analogy observa- 
ble in their appearance, customs and language, have usually 
been arranged by physiologists under the human variety entitled 
the Malay. They occupy the Malayan peninsula, Sumatra, 
Borneo, Java and other East Indian islands, and all those remote 
groups of the Pacific extending to Easter island near the Amer- 
ican continent, and from the Sandwich islands on the north, to 
New Zealand in the Southern ocean. They may perhaps be 
justly divided into two orders, the Malays proper and the Poly- 
nesians. 

The Malays, in the opinion of Cuvier, are not easily referrible 
to either of the three great races, but he adds, " Can they be clear- 
ly distinguished from their neighbors, the Caucasian Hindoos and 
the Mongolian Chinese 1 As for us, we confess we cannot dis- 
cover any sufficient characteristics in them for that purpose."* 

* Regne Animal, vol. i. p. 55, Am. Edit 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



289 



M. Lesson, also, who has bestowed great research upon these 
insuiar nations, has concluded that the Malays are a mixed race 
of Mongols and Indo-Caucasians.* 

The complexion of the Malays is brown, from a light tawny 
or yellow hue to a deep bronze ; the hair is long, lank and 
black, the beard weak ; their eyes are black and oblique, the 
nose full and broad towards the apex, the mouth large, the 
bones of the face large and prominent, and the head narrow and 
compressed. Their persons are generally below the middle size 
and somewhat robust.f 

The real Polynesian nations are described generally as of a 
dark complexion, varying from olive through shades of reddish 
brown to a copper-color, with long black hair, straight or curl- 
ing, and scanty beards. J " The general complexion of both men 
and women (of the Polynesian tribes) is a dark coppery brown, 
but it varies from the lightest hue of copper to a rich mahogany 
or chocolate, and in some cases almost to black."§ Sometimes 
features are observed which approach to the Caucasian variety. 

The natives of the Sandwich islands are described by Mr. 
Ellis as * 4 in general, rather above the middle stature, well 
formed, with fine muscular limbs, open countenances, and fea- 
tures frequently resembling those of Europeans." " Their hair 
is black or brown, strong, and frequently curly. Their com- 

* M. Lesson, Voyage du Coquille, Zool., p. 43, cited in Morton's 
Crania Americana, p. 56. 

f Marsden's Hist, of Sumatra, pp. 38, 45. Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 
414. Lawrence's Lectures, p. 367. 

t Ellis's Poly. Res., vol. i. pp. 73, 74. Marshall's Voyage, in Mav., 
vol. ix. p. 157. Porter's Voy., pp. 114, 111,96. 

§ King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 570. 

37 



290 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



plexion is neither yellow like the Malays, nor red like the 
American Indians, but a kind of olive and sometimes reddish 
brown."* 

Mr. Ledyard remarks of the inhabitants of the Society 
islands, that "they are tall, strong, well limbed, and fairly 
shaped." "Their complexion is a clear olive or brunette, and 
the whole contour of the face quite handsome, except the nose 
which is generally a little inclined to be flat. Their hair is 
black and coarse. The men have beards, but pluck the greatest 
part of them out."f 

Of the Otaheitans, Captain Fitzroy says, " To my eye they 
differed from the aborigines of southern South America, in the 
form of their heads, in the width or height of their cheek bones, 
in their eyebrows, in their color, and most essentially in the ex- 
pression of their countenances. High foreheads, defined and 
prominent eyebrows, with a rich bronze color, give an Asiatic 
expression to the upper part of their faces ; but the flat noses 
(carefully flattened in infancy) and thick lips, are like those of 
the South Americans."! 

The natives of the Pelew islands are of a deep copper-color, 
with long black hair and scanty beard. They are well made 
and of middle stature. The inhabitants of Easter island were a 
handsome race with oval countenances, jet black hair, scanty 
beard, and black eyes. 

Here again, the resemblance between the Malays and Poly- 
nesians and Americans has attracted the attention of those who 
have possessed the opportunity of comparing their physical ap- 

* Missionary Tour through Hawaii, p. 22. f Ledyard, p. 62. 
1 King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 509. Wilson's Voyage, in Mavor, 
vol. ix. pp. 15. 64. Beechey's Voy.. p. 43. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



291 



pearance. Of the Indians of Acapulco, in Mexico, Captain Basil 
Hall observes, " Their features and color partake somewhat of 
the Malay character ; their foreheads are broad and square ; 
their eyes small and not deep seated ; their cheek bones prom- 
inent, and their heads covered with black straight hair ; their 
stature about the medium standard, their frame compact and 
well made."* 

" I had not long since," says Mr. Smith, " a striking proof 
of the visible resemblance between the figure, countenance, and 
whole appearance of the Malay and the American Indian. Mr. 
Van Polanen, late minister from the late Republic of Holland 
to the United States, and afterwards holding a high office at the 
Cape of Good Hope, and in the island of Java, on his return 
from the East, fixed his residence in Princeton. He brought 
with him two Malay servants. As they were one day stand- 
ing in his door, there happene.d to pass by two or three Indians 
belonging to a small tribe, which still holds some lands in the 
state of New Jersey. When they approached the door, the 
attention of each party was strongly arrested by the appearance 
of the other. They contemplated one another with evident 
marks of surprise ; and by their signs and gestures discovered 
their mutual astonishment at seeing such a likeness to them- 
selves. Every person, indeed, who sees these Malays and is ac- 
quainted with the countenance of our native Indians, is forcibly 
struck with the resemblance. The chief difference between 
them is, that the features of the Malays are more soft, the cheek 

* Voyage to South Am., vol. ii. p. 175. See also Dr. Lang's 
View of the Polynesian Nations, p. 185. 



292 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



bone not quite so much raised, and the outline of the face some- 
what more circular."* 

" My first impression upon seeing several New Zealanders 
in their native dress and dirtiness, was that they were a race in- 
termediate between the Otaheitans and Fuegians, and I after- 
wards found that Mr. Stokes and others saw many precise re- 
semblances to the Fuegians ; while every one admitted their 
likeness to the Otaheitans. To me they all seem to be one and 
the same race of men, - altered by climate, habits, and food, but 
descended from the same original stock." And again, " a word 
about the inhabitants and I leave the Keelings (islands). No 
material difference was detected by me between the Malays on 
these islands, and the natives of Otaheite and New Zealand. I 
do not mean to assert that there were not numbers of men at 
each of those islands, to whom I could not trace resemblances, 
(setting individual features aside) at the Keelings. I merely 
say that there was not one individual among the two hundred 
Malays I saw there, whom I could have distinguished from a 
Polynesian islander, had I seen him in the Pacific"! 

Having thus exhibited some of the facts which tend to in- 
dicate that the number of original races may justly be restricted 
to three, the white, the red, and the black, and that the Amer- 
ican, Malay, Polynesian, and Mongolian nations are members 
of the red race, and retain in various degrees the characters of 
its original type, it is necessary next to inquire into what other 
countries this ancient family may be traced. 

* Smith's Essay, p. 217, note. 

f King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 567. Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 635, 636. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



293 



The Scythians were apparently a Mongol tribe ; the physi- 
cal description given of them by Hippocrates, who speaks of 
their scanty growth of hair and other peculiarities, according to 
Niebuhr, is conclusive upon this point. Hippocrates considered 
them as a distinct race, and remarked the universal resemblance 
of all the Scythians, a character which marks likewise the 
American family.* 

Humboldt has traced some analogies in the general charac- 
ter of the human figures in the Mexican picture-writings, to 
some of those which have been preserved on the Etruscan mon- 
uments, and considers their dwarfish size, and the great large- 
ness of the head, as peculiarities to be observed also in the 
Etruscan reliefs. The description given by Sir William Gell, 
of the men represented upon the walls of the tombs at Tarqui- 
nii, corresponds in a great degree with the physical characters 
of the Red race, as depicted upon. some of the American monu- 
ments. " It is singular," he says, " that the men represented 
in these tombs are all colored red, exactly as in the Egyptian 
paintings in the tombs of the Theban kings : their eyes are very 
long ; their hair is bushy and black ; their limbs lank and slen- 
der ; and the facial line, instead of running, like that of the 
Greeks, nearly perpendicular, projects remarkably, so that in 
the outline of the face, they bear a strong resemblance to the 
negro, or to the Ethiopian figures of Egyptian painting."! 

Hindoostan contains many dissimilar races ; in many portions 
of this vast country there are w^ild tribes, some of whom ap- 
proach to the type of the Red race. Thus the Garrows, and the 



* Niebuhr's Researches into the History of the Scythians, pp. 
46. S3. t Vol. i. p. 390. 



294 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Lunctas, and the Puharries resemble the Chinese and the peo- 
ple of Eastern Asia. Bishop Heber says, " the great difference 
in color between different natives struck me much. Of the 
crowd by whom we were surrounded, some w T ere black as ne- 
groes, others merely copper-colored, and others little darker 
than the Tunisines."* According to Mr. Orme, the color of 
the Hindoos is either that of copper or of the olive, with the 
various intermediate shades; the hair is long, fine, and jet black, 
the lips larger than those of Europeans, the eyes black, and the 
eyelids long. In general, also, the head is thin, the face oval, 
and the stature small. Niebuhr remarks that none of the figures 
at Elephanta have beards, and this is the case with many of 
those at Ellora. In one of the caves near Bang, in Malwah, 
which is decorated with a beautiful Etruscan border, " on the 
lower parts of the w T all and columns, have been painted male 
and female figures of a red or copper-color, the heads of which 
have been intentionally erased. What remains shows them to 
have been executed in a style of painting, far surpassing any 
modern specimens of native art."f 

But it is in Egypt that we find the clearest evidences of the 
ancient existence of the Red race. The Copts, who are the 
degraded descendants of the Egyptians, though now a mixed 
race, are described as having a dusky and yellowish color, black 
and large elongated eyes slightly inclining from the nose up- 
wards, thick lips, thin beard, the hair black and curly, high 
cheek bones, and a flat forehead.! But the people who at pre- 

* Heber, vol. i. p. 19. f Mod. Trav. India, part viii. p. 308. 

% Lane's Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. 
p. 310 ; vol. i. pp. 31, 32. Denon's Trav. in Egypt, vol. i. p. 266. 
Sonnini, vol. iii. pp. 67, 203. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



295 



sent, according to the opinion of the learned, bear the closest re- 
semblance to the ancient Egyptians, as represented in their paint- 
ings, are the Nubeh, Barabras, or Berberins of the Upper Nile.* 
They offer also indications of mixture with other tribes, but some 
tribes are of a red or copper-color, varying to a darker tint, 
with thick lips, a scanty beard,f and hair bushy and strong, but 
not woolly. Few questions have been discussed with more 
learning and ingenuity than the physical character of the an- 
cient Egyptians. The result of these investigations has estab- 
lished, that at least one of the varieties of physiognomy ex- 
pressed in the paintings and sculptures presents several of the 
characteristics of the Red race. It is clear that their artists en- 
deavored to represent the complexion and features in the most 
faithful and accurate manner.J In the figures upon the monu- 
ments, the forehead is rather low, the eyes are drawn in an 
oblique direction, (which is more remarkable in the paintings 
than in the sculptures,) the lips are somewhat thick, the cheek 
bones rather high, the hair black, short, and bushy, and the 
complexion of a red copper, or light chocolate-color. " This 
red color," says Mr. Pritchard, " is evidently intended to repre- 
sent the complexion of the people, and is not put on in the 
want of a lighter paint or flesh-color, for when the limbs or 
bodies are represented as seen through a thin veil, the tint used 
resembles the complexion of Europeans. The same shade 



* Lane, ibid. Pritchard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, 
p. 190. 

f Burckhardt's Travels in Nubia, p. 110. Pritchard's Phys. Res. 
vol. ii. p. 172. 

t Heeren's Res., vol. ii. p. 90. 



296 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



might have been generally adopted, if a darker one had not 
been preferred as more truly representing the natural complex- 
ion of the Egyptian race." A peculiarity of most of these fig- 
ures is the absence of the beard in the native races, while a 
beard generally attends all the representations of Asiatics.* 
This might be attributed to the custom of the Egyptians, who, 
according to Herodotus, shaved every part of their bodies, but 
it must be acknowledged that the race possessed a thin beard, 
and it is singular that when upon the sculptures that feature is 
represented, it does not appear in the long and easy flow of na- 
ture, but, united in one mass, adheres to the chin in such an 
artificial form that it has been conjectured that the ancient 
Egyptians wore the beard in a case : in this shape it was ap- 
propriated to the statues of the kings and gods, Osiris and Ho- 
rus, and appears to have been used only as the symbol of man- 
hood. Rosellini remarked that the same head on the same 
monument is sometimes represented with the artificial beard, 
and sometimes without it, and that it was probably not worn, 
but merely intended to denote the male character.! Of the 
mummies the males have the head and beard shaved, and the 
hair of the females was long and black. On the Nubian mon- 
uments we also find males represented as beardless, or with the 
beard shaven, or with a narrow beard under the chin as it is 
now worn by the men in Nubia. | From these circumstances, 
it may be presumed that the Egyptians like the modern Copts 
and Nubians had but little beard. In their color, in the pecu- 



* Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 297 ; vol. ii. p. 362. 

t Library Ent. Know., Egypt. Antiq.. vol. ii. p. S2. 

X Burckhardt. pp. 99, 110. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



297 



liar character of the eyes, in the black hair and scanty beard, 
we recognise the features of the Red race. In speaking of the 
figures painted upon the walls of a tomb at Thebes, Sir Fred- 
erick Henniker says, " In these unfinished figures, the sweet- 
ness of the face, and the extraordinary length and beauty of 
the eye rivet attention." " At Munich I saw two young Bra- 
zilians (Indians), whose eyes are similar to these in the tomb. 
These children were lately brought from the river of the Ama- 
zons by Professor Marthas."* It may be added that in one case 
a people with very prominent noses, and looking like those on 
the Mexican pictures and monuments, are represented on the 
Egyptian.! 

Some osteological evidence tends also to sanction this divi- 
sion of the human race into three varieties. The methods of 
considering the human head, its shape and volume, have been 
various, but in two, which were originated by the most distin- 
guished naturalists, there is a correspondence, which is the more 
singular from the discrepancy of their views with regard to the 
number of the races. By the vertical method of Blumenbach, 
who divided mankind into five races, but three great varieties 
exist in the conformation of the head, indicative of the. three races. 
I. The Caucasian. II. The Mongolian, and III. The Ethiopian. 

* Henniker, p. 126. 

t Wilkinson, vol. i. pp. 370, 378.—" This relic with a great variety 
of uncouth and frightful stone images of porphyry, were found buried 
beneath the great square, consisting of idol gods and goddesses, ser- 
pents and other brute creatures of their superstitious veneration and 
worship. Among the collection I observed a large head cut in granite, 
the very fac simile of those I have seen in Egypt, and but for its lo- 
cality and place of discovery, I should have supposed it had been dug 
from the ruins of Thebes." — Tudor's Travels in Mexico. 

3S 



298 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



By the method of general comparison, pursued by Dr. Prit- 
chard who divides men into seven varieties or classes, but 
three leading divisions are indicated by the form of the skull. 
I. The symmetrical, or oval form. (The Caucasian.) II. The 
prognathous, or narrow and elongated skull. (The Ethiopian.) 
III. The pyramidal, or broad and square-faced skull. (The 
Mongolian.)* 

That these varieties of mankind are not of recent origin, and 
the result of climate and other causes operating upon the hu- 
man constitution, but that they are of such antiquity as to be 
justly entitled to the appellation of primitive, must appear by 
reference to all the descriptions, monumental or historical, that 
have been handed down to us. The distinction of the races seems 
to be coeval not only with the earliest traditions, but with the 

* Dr. Pritchard has designated the first and third of these varieties 
(the Caucasian and Mongolian) by the terms Iranian and Turanian. 
Iran, from the most ancient times, has been the name by which the 
native Persians have designated their country, and describes that ter- 
ritory which lies south and west of the Oxus, and between Arabia and 
India, Tartary and the Indian ocean; while Turan or Touran is a 
general appellation for the countries beyond the Oxus. — Malcohn^s 
Hist. Persia, vol. i. p. 2, note. According to one of" the early tradi- 
tions, they were so called after Toor and Erij, two of the sons of Feri- 
doon a Persian prince, to whom Tartary and Persia were respectively 
assigned upon the death of their father. The Persian historians, says 
Drummond, lay claims to the high antiquity of their monarchy, which, 
according to their account, extended over all Asia, with the exception 
of India. They divided Asia into three parts, Iran, Turan and Ma- 
grab. Turan included Tartary, China and Thibet ; Iran, Persia ; and 
Magrab, the countries to the west of Persia. — Drummond>s Origines } 
vol. i. p. 298. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



299 



most ancient representations upon the architectural remains of 
the world, and with the earliest physical descriptions. The ap- 
parent inaccuracies and contradictions which arose among an- 
cient authors in the physical description of different nations, 
originated in some cases from migrations, and the consequent 
transferring of names from one nation to another, as they occu- 
pied regions which still continued to be denominated by the 
name of the tribes they succeeded. Having reference to this 
confusion of nomenclature, and to the inaccurate descriptions 
by the Greeks of the physical characters of the Egyptians, there 
is no difficulty in referring the triple division of mankind, laid 
down by Aristotle, to the three races, the White, Black, and 
Red. "Aristotle," says Mr. Wiseman, "appears to have re- 
corded the classification prevalent in earlier and in his own 
times, when he tells us that the older physiognomists decided of 
a person's character by the resemblance of his features to those 
nations who differ in appearance and manners, as the Egyp- 
tians, Thracians, and Scythians."* The same learned author has 
satisfactorily proved by collating this with other passages from 
Aristotle, that when he here speaks of the Egyptians he intend- 
ed to signify the Negro or Black race, that by the Scythians 
he proposed to describe the fair or white-complexioned Ger- 
mans of that name, and by the Thracians, the Mongol, or Red 
race. And this inference is sustained by a " passage in Julius 
Firmicus, overlooked by the commentators of Aristotle, which 
gives us the same ternary division, with the colors of each race. 
i In the first place,' he writes, £ speaking of the characters and 

* Wiseman's Lectures on the Connection between Science and 
Revealed Religion, p. 95, and authorities there cited. 



300 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



colors of men, they agree in saying : if by the mixed influence 
of the stars, the characters and complexions of men are distri- 
buted, and if the course of the heavenly bodies, by a certain 
kind of artful painting, form the lineaments of mortal bodies ; 
that is, if the Moon makes men white, Mars red, and Saturn 
black, how comes it that in Ethiopia all are born black, in Ger- 
many white, and in Thrace red.'"* 

In one of the tombs at Beban el Malek, near Thebes, is re- 
presented the clearest evidence of the existence of the three 
races, at a period probably not less than fifteen hundred years 
before our era. It consists of the celebrated procession of four dif- 
ferent nations, in groups of four, painted red, white, black, and 
then white. The first four belong to the white race, as appears 
from the beard, mustaches, complexion, and profile. The 
second are beyond question four negroes. The third are sim- 
ilar in color to the first, with a different costume, and have a 
dense brown beard ; from their peculiar physiognomy they are 
supposed to have been intended for Jews. The last four are 
red men ; " their black hair plaited from the crown, hangs reg- 
ularly all round the head ; it is cut short immediately over the 
eyebrows, and hangs down behind the ears into the neck. They 
have a small piece of black beard stuck to the point of their 
chin, but no mustaches," a style of wearing the beard like that 
of the modern Nubians, who have a scanty beard. 

There is no period, however remote, in which we do not 
find some allusion either mythological, monumental, or histori- 
cal, to the physical differences in the human appearance, and to 
their ternary division. In the mythological traditions of nations,, 



* Wiseman, p. 100. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



301 



we might anticipate the discovery of the most ancient references 
to this subject. And perhaps the most striking instance of this 
kind is afforded in those of the ancient and civilized people of 
America. In a continent where, so far as researches have ex- 
tended, there is no indication of the existence of any other than 
the Red race before the discovery, we nevertheless perceive a 
knowledge of the two other races ; not, however, as derived 
from the actual presence of these races as inhabiting this coun- 
try, but as the physical description of their gods. Thus Quet- 
zelcoatl, the Mexican deity, the Payzome of Brazil, Yiracocha 
the Peruvian god, are all represented as white men, with a 
long and flowing beard, and among the Muyscas of South 
America, Bochica, the prototype of Quetzelcoatl, is described 
in a similar manner. Tezcatlipoca, another of the Mexican 
gods, is described as black, and his principal image was of a 
black shining stone. The same deity probably was known and 
worshipped among neighboring tribes, by the name of Ixtlilton, 
or «' The Black."* 

In Hindoostan the ancient mythology presents equally curi- 
ous physical characteristics as peculiar to the three great dei- 
ties. Brahma, the most ancient of these, is represented as a 
red man, Vishnu as black, and Siva white. In Egypt, where 
the religious system was so closely assimilated to that of the 
Hindoos, Osiris, Typhon, and Horus, were respectively distin- 
guished as black, red, and white.f In the mythology of the 

* Voyage Pittoresque dans la Province D'Yucatan, par Frederick 
de Waldeck, pp. 6, 18. Clavigero, vol. i. p. 244. 

t Paterson, in As. Res. Pritchard ; s Egypt. Mythology, p. 285, on 
the authority of Plutarch. 



302 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Greeks and Romans, we are told that Saturn divided the earth 
between his three sons, and Herodotus relates that Targitaus, 
the first king of Scythia, made a similar division of that country 
among his three sons.* 

It is true, that these physical descriptions and fables are 
directly connected with the religious superstitions of these widely 
separated nations, but such is the case with all the primitive 
pagan histories of the world ; for in early epochs, religion and 
history were closely interwoven, and blended together. In all 
mythologies a recondite meaning has been existent, and when 
we step beyond the precincts of sacred authority, we must ex- 
pect to find the real events of history, as well as truths in natu- 
ral philosophy and science, shrouded under theological mysteries, 
and engrafted upon religious systems. The Greeks, with their 
usual refinement, speculated metaphysically upon these ancient 
myths, and hence, perhaps, originated the divine triad of Plato. 
But it is wiser to refer this triple division to an historical fact 
than to a subtle idea of religious belief; particularly, as we 
find no ground for its existence at that early period, in the sa- 
cred writings, which, however, refer to the three sons of Noah 
as the original progenitors of the human race after the flood. 

The Triune vessel found in one of the Ohio mounds perhaps 
indicates the same fact, which is corroborated also by the sin- 
gular circumstance that among the various groups of earthen 
mounds in the United States, it is observed that three are gen- 
erally of a greater size than the others, and stand in the most 
prominent places.f The same remark applies to the pyramids 
of Egypt — at least to those of Djizeh, Dashour, Abousir, and 
Gheeza. 



* Herod., vol. ii. p. 306. 



f Arch. Am, vol. i. p. 249. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



303 



Dr. Pritchard remarks, that the black-haired variety forms 
the most numerous class of mankind, and that it may be looked 
upon as the natural and original complexion of the human spe- 
cies.* " If we admit," says Dr. Lawrence, " the Caucasian to 
have been the primitive form of man, are we to suppose that 
the skin was rosy, the hair yellow or red, and the eyes blue, or 
that the former had a tendency to brown, and that both the lat- 
ter were dark ? We can have little hesitation in adopting the 
latter opinion ; for those characters belong to all of this race 
except the Germans, which have occupied the more distant 
regions."! In adducing a few curious facts on this point, it 
will be perceived that while they afford room for speculation 
only, as to the original color of the human race, they tend di- 
rectly to confirm the great antiquity of the Red race. 

" The Indians," observes Mr. Adair, a are of a copper or 
red clay-color, and they delight in every thing which they im- 
agine may promote and increase it. Accordingly they paint 
their faces with vermilion, as the best and most beautiful in- 
gredient. If we consider the common laws of nature and Prov- 
idence, we shall not be surprised at this custom — for every 
thing loves best its own likeness and place in the creation, and 
is disposed to ridicule its opposite."! Not only do the Ameri- 
can warriors paint themselves with this color, but in some sepul- 
chres in South America, even the bones of the skeletons have 
been dyed of the same hue. It may be remembered that some 
of the monuments of Central America were painted red, a cir- 
cumstance, by no means of any importance, were it an isolated 
instance, but rendered interesting by similar appearances else- 



* Prit. Phys. Res., vol. i. p. 220. 
% Hist. N. Am. Ind., p. 1. 



t Lectures, p. 358. 



304 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

where. It is singular also, that among some of the tribes of 
our western Indians, we should find a tradition that they were 
formed by the Creator from the steatite, a species of red clay 
abounding in that region. Passing to the eastward it is ob- 
served, that the Polynesian Areois dyed their faces scarlet,* in 
their religious ceremonies, — and in one of the Polynesian tradi- 
tions it is related that man was created of red earth— araea.f 
Sculpture and monumental painting is one of the most ancient 
of arts, as appears from some of the oldest structures in the 
world. The exterior of the Indian pagodas are sometimes 
painted red,J traces of the same color are perceptible on the 
surface of the sphynx before the pyramid of Cheops, and other 
Egyptian sculptures.^ The Egyptians, it has been already re- 
marked, are depicted on the walls of their tombs as of a red 
color ; we trace the same human complexion in the Etrurian 
tombs and Hindoo caves, and we read also of vermilion men 
painted upon the walls of the Babylonian temples.|| 

There are other circumstances illustrating the sanctity of 
this color. Red or scarlet it is well known was a royal color 
and called Phoinic.M Hence, the palm-tree, whose fruit was 
of the same tint, was the emblem of honor, and the reward of 
victory. To this and to its sacred use Pliny alludes when he 
says, "Verrius allegeth and rehearseth many authors, whose 
credit ought not to be disproved, who affirm that the manner 

* Ellis's Polynesian Res., p. 180. f Ibid. vol. i. p. 95. 

X Heeren's Res., vol. iii. p. 77. 
§ Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. p. 97. 
|| Ezekiel 23 : 11 ; 8 : 10. 

T[ Iliad, v. 454. Gellius, 1. ii. c. 26, and the Scholiast, all quoted 
by Bryant, Myth., vol. ii. p. 9. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



305 



was in times past to paint the face of Jupiter's image upon high 
and festival days with vermilion ; as also that the valiant cap- 
tains who rode triumphant into Rome had in former times their 
bodies covered all over therewith ; after which manner noble 
Camillus, they say, entered the city in triumph. And even at 
this day, according to that ancient and religious custom, or- 
dinary it is to color all the unguents that are used at festival 
suppers at a high and solemn triumph with vermilion. And 
no one thing do the Censors give charge and order to be done 
at their entrance into office before the painting of Jupiter's vis- 
age with Minium. The cause and motive that should induce 
our ancestors to this ceremony I marvel much at, and cannot 
tell what it should be."* 

To this may be added the testimony of Josephus, that Adam 
in the Hebrew signifies one that is red, because he was formed 
out of red earth.f The evidence that similar opinions prevailed 
in the Hebrew traditions is exceedingly curious, and none 

* Pliny, Nat Hist, 33, 7. old trans. 

It appears that a German of great learning has made a similar 
ternary division of the races, not founded upon physical grounds, 
but upon moral and historical circumstances which he considers as 
affording strong lines of distinction. 

1. The Caucasian race, which is known in most of its branches 
through an unbroken series of history, and by many varieties of civil- 
ization. 

2. The Mongol race, which has a less authentic history, and only 
one kind of limited civilization ; and 

3. The Ethiopic race, which has extremely little history, and seems 
to have retrograded in civilization. — Universal History of Christoph 
Schlosser, vol. i. sec. 2. div. 1, cited in Westminster Rev., vol. i. p. 94. 

t Joseph. Antiq., p. 29. 

39 



306 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



more so than the allegorical description of the three races, and 
the account of the physical appearance of Noah contained in 
the Apocryphal Book of Enoch — a work probably written a 
short time before the Christian era.* We see here most clearly 
that some at least of the Jews entertained a belief in the very 
ancient differences of color, which characterize the races. 

* The Book of Enoch the Prophet, translated from an Ethiopic 
MS. in the Bodleian Library, by Richard Lawrence, Archbishop of 
Cashel. Oxford, 1833. pp. 112, 116, 161. Ch. 84, sec. 17, v. 2. 
" And behold a cow sprang from the earth ; v. 3. And this cow was 
white, v. 4. Afterwards a female heifer sprung forth, and with it 
another heifer ; one of them was black, and one was red," &c, et seq. 

Ch. 88, v. 1. " Then one of these four went to the white cows, and 
taught them a mystery. While the cow was trembling, it was born, 
and became a man, and fabricated for himself a large ship. In this 
he dwelt, and three cows dwelt with him in that ship, which covered 
them. (The deluge and its subsidence are then described, and then 
the allegory proceeds.) v. 9. Again I looked, in the vision, until 
those cataracts from that lofty roof were removed, and the fountains 
of the earth became equalized, while other depths were opened, 
v. 10. Into which the water began to descend until the dry ground 
appeared, v. 11. The ship remained on the earth; the darkness re- 
ceded ; and it became light, v. 12. Then the white cow which be- 
came a man went out of the ship, and the three cows with him. 
v. 13. One of the three cows was white, resembling that cow, one of them 
was red as blood, and one of them was black ; and the white cow left 
them." 

In the same book, ch. 105. Noah is described at his birth " as a 
child the flesh of which was white as snow, and red as a rose ; the 
hair of whose head was white like wool and long, and whose eyes 
were bright and beautiful ;" as " a son v/nlike to other children;" as 
l of a different nature from ours (theirs), being altogether unlike to 
us" who resembled : - not his father hamechP 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



307 



It is to be remarked that in these traditions, and indeed in 
those of all ancient nations, there are undoubted evidences 
that by the concurrent belief of mankind all men were children 
of the same first parents. Tradition and history, sacred and 
profane, unite in asserting this, and yet from the same testimony 
we are forced to admit the existence of the three races, sepa- 
rated by the same broad lines of distinction that they now are, 
in the earliest postdiluvian ages. Science, while it has by close 
observation, and a rigid system of induction, confuted the once 
general idea that these varieties have been produced by climate 
and similar causes, has at the same time by analogical testi- 
mony rendered it probable, if not demonstrated, that the pro- 
duction of varieties is not a phenomenon unknown in the phys- 
ical history of man ; and thus the unity of the human race is 
reconciled with its ancient ternary division. It is the province 
of true wisdom not to strive to penetrate beyond, or to inquire 
as to the final cause of this division. Our duties are to be 
learned from things as they exist, and not from speculation. In 
proving the common origin and the relationship of all men, 
though now existing in three races, tradition and physiology 
act in harmony ; by acknowledging this relationship, the most 
severe and lofty code of morals, and the most benign philan- 
thropy are satisfied ; for by this result, the social, moral, and 
political rights of every branch of the same great family are 
placed upon an incontrovertible equality, and the most degraded 
members of the human race have claims upon our sympathy. 

It appears from the preceding investigation that the Red 
race may be traced, by physical analogies, into Siberia, China, 
Japan, Polynesia, Indo-China, the Malayan islands, Hindoo- 



308 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



stan, Madagascar,* Egypt, and Etruria. In some of these coun- 
tries the pure type of the race may be perceived existing at 
present, in others many of its characters have been changed 
and modified, apparently by intermarriage, and in others its 
ancient existence is to be discovered only by the records pre- 
served on their monuments. In these directions, then, are we 
to search for further analogies, and it may be found that physi- 
ology is by no means a fallacious guide in the elucidation of 
ancient history. 

* The physical description of the tribes in Madagascar was acci- 
dentally omitted in the preceding chapter. The inhabitants of this 
island consist of two classes. The one is distinguished by a light 
person, straight black hair, weak and scanty beard, which they pluck 
out like the American aborigines, and by an olive or copper-colored 
complexion. The members of the other class are more robust and 
dark- colored — sometimes black — with woolly hair. The first race 
resembles the Malays and Polynesians ; the latter approach to the 
Negro. These races have intermingled. The olive-colored tribes 
are not the aborigines of the country, and there seems to be good 
foundation for the opinion that their ancestors were a colony from 
Java. — Ellis's Hist. Madagascar, vol. i. pp. 115, 133, 122 ; vol. ii. 
p. 4. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



309 



CHAPTER VII. 

ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES. LANGUAGE. 

The mutual diversities of the American languages, hereto- 
fore so much exaggerated, and the few signs of affinity they 
exhibit to those of the other continent, have been often urged as 
decisive of their indigenous origin. And in one sense these diver- 
sities clearly are indigenous, that is, they present undoubted indi- 
cations of having been originated since the migration of the race 
into America. Perhaps the highest proof of the original rela- 
tionship of languages consists in the resemblance of their gram- 
matical structure. Abandoning the old system of endeavoring to 
establish affinities by the identity of words, a defective criterion 
when employed alone, and one which was often limited only 
by the fancy and ingenuity of the inquirer, philologists have 
examined into the form and character of the American lan- 
guages, and have established satisfactorily that they have all 
sprung from one common source. The features of resemblance 
are such as enter into their elementary construction ; the diver- 
sities, those to which all languages are exposed by the separa- 
tion and dispersion of those who speak them. When the an- 
cient progenitors of the aborigines reached our shores, they 
found a vast uninhabited continent expanded before them. 
The immediate and rapid distribution of population which must 
have ensued, the separation into distinct tribes and communi- 
ties, each remaining isolated for a long series of ages, the 



• 



310 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



change in mode of life, and the decline of civilization, iniist soon 
have effected a radical alteration in the words of an oral 
language, and effaced every sign of verbal identity. If the 
chief evidence of the common origin of the American lan- 
guages exists in their construction, we might, with great cer- 
tainty, anticipate the absolute loss of every trace of verbal 
affinity with any of the dialects of the other hemisphere. Ac- 
cordingly none of the efforts to discover the origin of the Amer- 
icans has proved more unsuccessful, than those which have been 
based upon an examination of their languages. The scanty 
analogies which have been perceived, however, point towards 
Asia. Thus, in eighty-three American languages, one hundred 
and seventy words have been found, with similar roots, a great 
majority of which are related to similar words in the Tongoo, 
Mantchoo, Mongol, Samoid, Ostiac and other Siberian idioms. 
Other points of resemblance have been traced between the In- 
dian languages, and the Coptic, Basque, and Polynesian. The 
Aztec is said to possess a small number of affinities with the 
Chinese and Japanese ; Tonquin words have been found in the 
Maya tongue; and the Otomite is thought to present some 
similitude to the Chinese. Another peculiarity which appears 
to be common to the Oriental dialects of Asia and some of our 
aboriginal languages, is the existence of a court-language — a 
modification of speech differing from the ordinary idiom. Thus 
the Mexicans, Natchez, and Creeks, and other nations used a 
language of honor in addressing their chiefs and princes, and 
the same has been observed in China, among the Malays,* and 
in Java and Siam. Of this language of ceremony, Clavigero 



* Marsden's Sumatra, p. 102. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



311 



says, 4i The style of address in Mexican varies according to the 
rank of the persons, with whom, or about whom, conversation is 
held, adding to the nouns, verbs, prepositions and adverbs certain 
particles expressive of respect."* " In addition to these simple 
pronouns," says Dr. Leyden, in a passage quoted by t)r. Lang, 
" there are various others which indicate rank and situation, as 
in Malaya, Chinese, and the monosyllabic languages in general, 
which have all of them paid peculiar attention to the language 
of ceremony, in addressing superiors, inferiors and equals." 
It is perhaps somewhat more than an accidental coincidence 
that the Mexican particle tzin which was usually added to the 
names of their kings, is identical with the Chinese tsin, and the 
Indo-Chinese asyang, an affix signifying Lord.~\ 

The great obstacle interposed against a full understanding 
of the real affinities, which exist between the American and 
other languages, has been the method of investigation, The 
learning of Europe and America has been exhausted to little 
purpose in tracing verbal analogies ; and if research were di- 
rected towards the comparison of structure and grammatical 
forms, the result would doubtless be more satisfactory. The 
American languages are distinguished by their long polysylla- 
bic terms, and by their complicated system of inflection. But 
these terms do not appear to have been originally single words, 
but rather to be compounded. It has been found, says Mr 
Schoolcraft, speaking of the words of the Algonquins, that 
those of the highest antiquity are simple and brief. " Most of 

* History of Mexico, vol. i. p. 393. 

t Hum. Res., vol. ii. p. 223. Dr. Lang's View of the Polynesian 
Nations, p. 144. 



312 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



the primitive nouns are monosyllabic, and denote but a single 
object or idea. A less number are dissyllabic ; few exceed this; 
and it may be questioned from the present state of the exami- 
nation, whether there is a single primitive trisyllable. The 
primitives become polysyllabic by adding an inflection indicat- 
ing the presence or absence of vitality, (which is the succeda- 
neum for gender,) and a further inflection to denote number. 
They also admit of adjective terminations. Pronouns are de- 
noted by particles prefixed or suffixed. The genius of the lan- 
guage is accumulative, and tends rather to add syllables or let- 
ters making further distinctions in objects already before the 
mind, than to introduce new words. A simple word is thus 
oftentimes converted into a descriptive phrase, at once formida- 
ble to the eye and the ear; and it is only by dissecting such 
compounds that the radix can be attained." From these facts 
it may be presumed there was a period when the languages 
were less cumbersome and complex than at present, and per- 
haps of a monosyllabic character. The same remark applies 
to the Polynesian languages, which, upon being analyzed, ap- 
pear to possess a monosyllabic radical basis. 

And hence it may be interesting to examine briefly some 
affinities in the mechanism of the American and Polynesian 
languages. In the American there is a universal tendency to 
express in the same word, both the action and the object. In 
the Polynesian, " verbs not only express the action, but the 
manner of it distinctly, hence to send a message would be orero, 
to send a messenger kono."* In the American, the use of the 
verb to be as an auxiliary was unknown, and' its place was sup- 



* Tour through Hawaii, by Rev. Wm, Ellis, p. 474. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



313 



plied by an intransitive verb, or by an inflection or particle. In 
the Polynesian, says Mr. Ellis, " the greatest imperfections we 
have discovered occur in the degrees of the adjectives, and the 
deficiency of the auxiliary verb to he, which is implied, but not 
expressed. The natives cannot say I am, or it is, yet they can 
say a thing remains (as, the canoe remains there); and their 
verbs are used in their participial form by simply adding the 
termination ana, equivalent to ing in English." In the lan- 
guage of Chile,* in the Cherokee and other northern languages, 
besides a singular and plural there is a dual number of the pro- 
nouns ; in the Polynesian, there is not only a singular, plural, 
and dual, but a double dual and plural. In both groups of 
languages the degrees of comparison are expressed by distinct 
words. The inflections of person and number, connected with 
the verb, are the inflections of the pronoun and not of the verb,f 
nouns and adjectives are readily converted into verbs, and verbs 
into nouns and adjectives, by the addition or suppression of par- 
ticles ; and indeed the general principles of their structure and 
formation seem to identify these languages by many close and 
striking analogies. 

Mr. Marsden was originally of opinion, that the languages 
prevailing on the western coast of South America, had not " even 
the most remote affinity to the Polynesian and he extend- 
ed this remark also to those of the aboriginal nations in North 
America.J At a subsequent period, however, he appears to 

* Arte de la Lengua General del Reyno de Chile, etc., por el P. 
Andres Febres, 1764, p. 11. 

t Gallatin, in Arch. Am., vol. ii. p. 196. Ellis, ibid. 

t Miscell. Works, p. 61. Hist. Madagascar, by Rev. Wm. Ellis, 
vol. i. p. 493. Tour through Hawaii, p. 471. 

40 



314 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

have been shaken in his confidence on this point, by Mr. Ellis, 
who had observed that some of the words in South America 
were of a Polynesian character. Dr. Lang has added to the 
number of their verbal affinities, and by indicating at the same 
time some points of resemblance between the Chinese and Po- 
lynesian languages in their construction, has tended to supply 
the necessary link of connection with Asia. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



315 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES. ASTRONOMY. 

The civil year of the Mexicans consisted of eighteen months 
of twenty days, and by the addition of five intercalary days, 
which were called void or waste days — Nemontemi — contained 
three hundred and sixty-five days. Four weeks of five days 
each made a month*— eighteen months a year — thirteen solar 
years a small cycle — four of these cycles formed a " great 
year ''f — and two of these " an old age " of one hundred and 
four years. 

The civil day, like that of the Egyptians and most of the 
Asiatic nations, commenced at sunrise, and like the Hindoo day 
was divided into eight intervals or periods, four of which were 
indicated by the rising and setting of the sun, and his positions 
in the Nadir and Zenith. The cycles of fifty-two years were 
numbered by numerical signs. To distinguish particular years 
in this cycle, they adopted the following method, used also in 
Thibet, Indostan, China,J Japan, and Mongolia. They selected 
four of the signs of the days, which were Tochtli — rabbit or 

* The first day of each week was market-day. 
f Toxiuhmolpia — the tying of the years. 

I This periodical series is of great antiquity in China, being men- 
tioned in the Chou-King, an historical work bearing the date of B. C. 
2300. It was formed by a combination of the signs of the ten ele- 
ments with the twelve signs of the zodiac. 



316 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



hare; Acatl — a cane; Tecpatl — a flint or knife ; and C alii, a 
house, and combined them successively with the numerical signs 
from one to thirteen. Thus Tochtli was joined to the signs of 
the numbers, one, five, nine, and thirteen, to signify the first, 
fifth, ninth, and thirteenth years of the small cycle of thirteen 
years; Acatl was joined to the signs of the numbers two, six, ten, 
and one, to signify the second, sixth, and tenth years of the first 
cycle of thirteen years, and the first year of the second cycle ; 
and by continuing the series of combinations through all the four 
smaller cycles composing the great age of fifty-two years, no 
sign was repeated twice with the same number, and every year 
of the fifty-two was expressed by a different combination.* 

The ancient Yucatan calendar was similar to that of the 
Toltecs and Aztecs, and the year was divided into eighteen 
months of twenty days. The year, however, it is thought, com- 
menced on the twelfth of January, and the five void days which 
were added fell at the end of the month Vaycab, or just after 
the summer solstice.f Five Maya years constituted a lesser 
age, and four of these made a great age of twenty years. These 

* " The most ancient division of the zodiac is that into four parts. 
The four signs of the equinoxes, and the solstices, chosen from a se- 
ries of twenty signs, the number of days in the Mexican month, recall 
to mind the four royal stars, Aldebaran, Regulus, Aritaes and Fo- 
mahault, celebrated in all Asia, and presiding over the seasons. In 
the new continent, the indictions of the cycle of fifty-two years, 
formed, as we would say, the four seasons of the grand year ; and the 
Mexican astrologers were pleased to see, presiding over each period 
of thirteen years, one of the four equinoctial or solstitial signs."— Al- 
bategnius de Scientia Stellarum, c. 2, p. 3, cited by Nuttall. 

f Waldeck, p. 22. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



317 



four ages or periods of five years, took their names from the 
cardinal points, viz., 1, East, Cach-haab ; 2, West, Hijx; 3, 
South, Cavac ; and 4, North, Muluc. The entire age of twenty 
years was called Katun, and a record of these eras, as they 
passed, was preserved by sculpturing their hieroglyphic symbols 
upon square tablets of stone, placed one above another in the 
walls of their edifices. 

Among the Muyscas, the day was divided into four parts 
— three days made a week, and ten weeks, a lunation or 
month, called Suna, which commenced the day after the full 
moon. The rural year was composed of twelve Sunas, and 
at the end of the third year, another month was added, a me- 
thod similar to one used in the north of India and in China.* 
The civil, or vulgar year called Zocam, consisted of twenty 
Sunas ;f and the Ritual, or Sacred year of thirty-seven Sunas. 
Five ritual years made a small cycle, and four of these small 
cycles a great age of twenty sacred years, equal to a real solar 
cycle of sixty years, an astronomical period of the same dura- 
tion as one used in Oriental Asia.J The Muyscas engraved 
calendar stones, whereon the years, and months, and days were 
denoted. In recording time, and distinguishing the days, 
months, and years, they adopted a system of periodical series, 
similar in principle to that employed in Mexico. The ten num- 

* Hist. China, by J. F. Davis, vol. i. p. 282. 

t In the accounts given to us of the calendar of the Muyscas, there 
appears to be some confusion in relation to the rural and civil years ; 
particularly as the Zocam, according to tradition, began at the full 
moon succeeding the winter solstice, a circumstance which is clearly 
impossible in a year of 600 days. 

X Hist. China, by J. F. Davis, ibid. 



318 



RESEARCHES IXTO THE ORIGIN AND 



bers, indicated by hieroglyphic figures, (and which it has been 
supposed, mark an original division of the zodiac into ten 
signs,) arranged in three series, represented the thirty days of a 
lunation; and by the extension of the same method to their 
religious cycle, the first month of the first year was denoted by 
Ata, or the hieroglyphic for the number one, the first month of 
the second year by Mica, or the hieroglyphic for number three, 
and so on through the whole cycle.* 

The Peruvian year huata, from huatani, to tie,f was divided 
into twelve months, called Quilla. from the moon, which were 
strictly lunar. The months were divided into light and dark 
halves, which were subdivided again into weeks of seven days, 
according to Vega. They observed the return of the solstices 
and equinoxes, by means of towers or gnomons, and yet Garcil- 
lasso de la Vega says, they failed to adjust the lunar to the 
solar year.t The meager accounts which have been transmit- 
ted in relation to the Peruvian astronomy, induce a suspicion 
that the Spaniards were but imperfectly informed as to their 
cycles and methods of calculation. Acosta denies that either 
the Mexicans or Peruvians had weeks of seven days, and says 
that the year anciently commenced on the first of January, and 
was altered to the winter solstice by the Inca Pachacutec. It 
is possible that a clue to the real division of time, or to the con- 
struction of one of their calendars is afforded in the eighteen 
niches which continually recur in most of the monuments, and 
which may have indicated a division into eighteen months, like 
the Mexican year. 

* Hum. Res., vol ii. pp. 105. 103. 123. 135. etc. 
t Vocabulario de la Lengua Qquichua. p. 180. 
+ Vega. vol. i. pp. 106. 10S. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 319 

The division of the year among the ruder Indian tribes was 
lunar. The Araucanians commenced it at the winter solstice, 
their calendar was divided into twelve months of thirty days, 
and at the end of the year five complementary days were add- 
ed !* The months were called cuyen, from a word signifying 
moon, and the year thipantu — the course of the sun.f The re- 
maining nations reckoned the months by the moons, some cal- 
culating twelve, and others thirteen to the year. J Traces of a 
calendar resembling the Mexican, it is said, have been found 
among the tribes on Nootka sound, along the north-west coast. 

In those primitive ages to which we must revert for the 
origin of all the ancient astronomical systems, the first division 
of the heavens was probably taken from the course of the moon, 
as the most conspicuous object when the stars were visible, 
and from the arc of the circle traversed each night by that 
body, as indicated by the most remarkable constellations. The 
lunar zodiac formed part of a very ancient system of Arabian 
astronomy. " As in the solar zodiac, the sun was observed 
from month to month to pass from one house or sign to another, 
so the moon also was said to change her mansions every night. "§ 
From a similar source have originated the Nacshatras, or houses 
of the moon, in the Hindoo, Chinese and other Oriental calen- 
dars, which were twenty-seven or twenty-eight in number ; and 
also, the signs of the days among the Mexicans. It is true, 
the Mexican month of twenty days does not correspond with 
the lunar month, nor with any other particular astronomical 
period ; and it is not easy to imagine why months of such a 

* Molina, vol. ii. p. 85. t Febres, pp. 82, 645. 

| Charlevoix, vol. ii. p. 173. Loskiel, p. 31. 
§ Landseer's Sabsean Res., p. 74. 



320 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



duration were adopted in their calendar, except that thereby a 
convenient multiple was afforded, so that at certain times the 
civil and ritual calendar should coincide. The civil months 
were clearly of arbitrary duration, as likewise was the ritual 
year. The Mexican ritual year consisted of twenty months of 
thirteen days each, or of two hundred and sixty days in the ag- 
gregate.* These months of thirteen days do not correspond ex- 
actly with any astronomical period, but they have been adopted 
originally, as a measure of the time during which the moon was 
visible, after having emerged from the rays of the sun, up to 
the termination of its second quarter, — while an equal period 
elapsed from the full of the moon to its subsequent immersionf 
— allowing two days, during which its actual rising, with refer- 
ence to the stars, may not easily have been observed. Hence we 
perceive that the most ancient calendar, the ritual or religious, 
was lunar, and its months represented half lunations. The 
Hindoos also divided their month into light and dark halves, 
and the same peculiarity may be observed in the Roman calen- 
dar, derived from the Etrurian, — the term Ides being derived 
from iduare, to divide. 

* Clavigero, vol. i. p. 295. Hum. Res., vol. i. p. 281. 

f " The ancient Sabeeans," says Mr. Landseer, " do not appear to 
have possessed artificial spheres whereby to ascertain and manifest 
the actual rising of a combust star, that is to say, a star immersed in 
the rays of the sun." " They must have waited until they actually 
saw any given star, before they announced and before they publicly 
celebrated its ascension. — Sabcean Bes., p. 177. " The ancients al- 
lowed twelve days for a star of the first magnitude to emerge from 
the solar rays, or, according to some, fourteen days." — Sir William 
Drummond : s Memoir on the Zodiacs of De?iderah, etc., p. 100. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



321 



At the termination of the Mexican cycle of fifty-two years, 
the civil year always ended at the winter solstice, as did that of 
the Chinese* and Hindoos. At this time they allowed for the 
quarter of a day accumulating yearly, and intercalated thirteen 
days. It has, however, been asserted that the Mexicans made 
an intercalation of twenty-five days every one hundred and four 
years. The interruption such an intercalation would have 
given to the consecutive series of thirteen days, engrafted in 
their astronomical system, would tend to impart a doubt as to 
the correctness of this statement, and would render, a priori, the 
intercalation of twenty-six days every one hundred and four 
years, or of thirteen days every fifty-two years far more proba- 
ble. But such an intercalation would be too much, and in ten 
cycles of one hundred and four years each, or in one thousand 
and forty years, the error would amount to nearly seven days. 
Now, according to Humboldt, in the Codex Borgianus of Ve- 
letri, ten such cycles, or one thousand and forty years, appear 
represented upon four successive pages, and at their termina- 
tion, seven days are in fact suppressed. This intercalation of 
thirteen days every fifty -two years, and the suppression of seven 
days at the end of one thousand and forty years, indicate a cal- 
culation of the length of the year at about three hundred and 
sixty-five days five hours and fifty minutes, a degree of accu- 
racy almost incredible.f 

* This, it is said, was the case in the time of Yao, B. C. 2300. 
The commencement of the year among the ancients was various; by 
some it was placed at the winter, and by others at the summer sol- 
stice. 

f The Chiapanese calendar contained the same divisions and pe- 
riods as the Mexican, with the difference that the days were called 

41 



322 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



From the very earliest periods of the world, some of the 
constellations and the signs of the zodiac appear to have been 
represented by animals, and we discover the same system of 
symbols in America. The days of the Mexican month were 
distinguished by the following signs : 



I. 


Cmartli 


A sea animal 


n. 




Wind. 


TTT 
111. 


Lain 


House. 


IV. 


Cuetzpalin 


Lizard. 


V. 


Coatl 


Serpent. 


VI. 


Miquiztli 


Death. 


VII. 


Mazatl 


Stag. 


vm. 


Tochtli 


Rabbit. 


IX. 


Atl 


Water. 


X. 


Itzcuintli 


Dog. 


XI. 


Ozomatli 


Ape. 


XII. 


Malinalli 


A plant. 


XIII. 


Acatl 


Reed. 



after the names of Votan, and other illustrious men of their ancestors. 
They used also the same method of periodical series for computing 
time. 

* This is the signification given by Humboldt with whose opin- 
ion Betancourt and Clavigero agree : Boturini and Torquemada 
thought otherwise. The Mexicans had likewise a series of nine signs, 
which presided over the night; and the number has appeared so 
anomalous in their system, as to favor the opinion of its foreign ori- 
gin. Several Asiatic nations have nine astrological signs, and the 
same number is sacred among the Mongols and their kindred races, 
the Chinese and the Siamese. — Strahlenbiirgli. p. 86. Pallas, vol. i. 
p. 198. Craicfurd's Siam, vol. ii. p. 104. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



323 



XIV. Ocelotl . ( . . Tiger. 

XV. Quauhtli . . . Eagle. 

XVI. Cozcaquauhtli . . A bird. 

XVII. Olin Tonatiuh . . Motion of the Sun. 

XVIII. Tecpatl . . . Flint. 

XIX. Quiahuitl . . . Rain. 

XX. Xochitl . . . Flower. 

To represent a month, these signs were painted in a wheel 
or circle. Four of these signs were selected, to designate, in 
combination with the signs of the numbers up to thirteen, the 
years of the century, as mentioned above, and of these four, 
Tochtli or Rabbit was the sign for the first year of their cen- 
tury, and this sign was considered most fortunate and propitious. 
Every year designated by the sign rabbit commenced with the 
day figured by Cipachtli, a sea animal. Clavigero says, the 
most solemn Mexican festivals were those of the divine years, 
of which kind were all those years which had the rabbit for 
their denominative character. In view of the intimate connec- 
tion between astronomy and religion, the position of this sign, 
so as to lead the years, is evidence of its antiquity, and sacred 
character. And perhaps this circumstance may serve to ex- 
plain the curious fact that the Delawares sacrificed to " a hare." 
Loskiel says it was because, " according to report, the first an- 
cestor of the Indian tribes had that name."* Charlevoix gives 
the story more in detail ; " almost all of the Algonquin nations," 
he says, " have given the name of the Great Hare to the First 
spirit ; some call him Michabou, others Mtahocan. The great- 
est part say, that being supported on the waters w T ith all his 



* Loskiel, p. 40. 



324 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



court, all composed of four-footed creatures like himself, he 
formed the earth out of a grain of sand, taken from the bottom 
of the ocean ; and created men of the dead bodies of animals. 
There are some also that speak of a god of the waters, who op- 
posed the design of the great hare, or at least refused to favor 
it. This god is, according to some, the great Tiger ; but it is 
to be observed there are no true tigers in Canada ; therefore 
this tradition might probably be derived from some other 
country."* 

The illustrious Humboldt instituted a comparison between 
the Mexican symbols of the days, and the zodiacal signs em- 
ployed in the astronomical systems of Eastern Asia. He found 
four of these, to correspond with four of the Hindoo Nacshatras, 
or Houses of the Moon. They were the Mexican Calli and the 
Hindoo Magha, represented by a house; the Acatl and Venou, 
by a cane : the Tecpatl and Crittica, by a flint or knife ; and the 
Olin, or motion of the sun, denoted by the prints of three feet, 
and the Sravanna, or the three prints of the feet of Vishnoo. 

Eight of these signs were also found to correspond exactly 
with an equal number of the signs of the Zodiac of the Thibe- 
tians, Chinese, and Mongols. They were Ml — water; Cipachtli 
— a sea animal; Ocelotl — the tiger; Tochtli — the hare or rabbit; 
Ozomatli — the ape ; Itzcuintli — the dog ; Coat! — the serpent ; 
and Quauhtli — a bird; all bearing the same names in those Asi- 
atic zodiacs. In the Zodiac of Bianchini, a mutilated planis- 
phere discovered at Rome in 1705, the same philosopher observed 
seven signs which belonged to the Tartar zodiac, three of 
which, the dog, the hare, and the ape belong also to the Aztec 



* Voyage, vol. ii. p. 107. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



325 



zodiac* In the Siamese zodiac we also find the signs of the 
tiger, the hare, the serpent, the ape, the dog, and the bird 5 and 
in that of Japan, the same signs are also observed.f 

The Mexican sign Tecpatl, or flint, was represented by a 
lance or arrow-head ; and the terms by which Sagittarius was 
known to the Arabians, Chaldeans, and Persians, all signify 
arrows.J The Muysca sign Ala, or water, was the first in their 
system, and the first Chinese asterism was Tse, or water. The 
Mexican All, a hieroglyphic zodiacal sign of the same signifi- 
cation, was represented by the same double line of undulation, 
under which Aquarius was figured by the ancients.§ 

The Mexican wheels, or circles, containing the series of 
hieroglyphics indicating a cycle of fifty-two years, were sur- 
rounded by a serpent with its tail in its mouth, and which 
pointed out, by four knots in its body, the cardinal points ; the 
circumference was intersected by eight triangular radii. These 
circles, and the planispheres formed mostly on the same model, 
present striking analogies to the Egyptian, and especially to 
the Circular Zodiac of Denderah. In this the signs are arranged 
in a circle, the circumference of which is also divided into eight 

* Hum. Res., vol. i. pp. 322, 337, 367. 

" The portions of the duodenary cycle were indicated by the same 
animals as symbols, among the Iranians, Turanians and Chinese." — 
DrummoncVs Origines, vol. i. p. 390 ; vol. ii. p. 169. 

t Kempfer's Japan, in Pinkerton, vol. i. p. 722. Crawford's Siam, 
vol. ii. p. 19. 

J Landseer's Sabsean Researches, pp. 147, 137. 

§ Beltrami speaks of a calendar-stone at Tula, in Mexico, upon 
which were represented Aquarius, the Twins, and the Virgin? — 
Beltrami, he Mexique, vol. ii. pp. 92, 145, 166. 



326 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



sections ; around winds a serpentine line, commencing with 
Leo and terminating with Cancer,* and about the whole is a 
hieroglyphic zone.f 

In the centre of the Aztec calendar-stone, is an image of 
the Sun, resembling the Hindoo Kronos, with teeth displayed 
and a protruding tongue. Sir Wm. Drummond, in his Me- 
moir on the Egyptian Zodiacs,! observes that it was known at 
a remote period, that the sun is in the centre of the planetary 
system, with the earth revolving round it; and the circular 
form of the Mexican planisphere, with the central position of 
the sun, suggests that the Mexicans were also acquainted with 
that fact. The Egyptians and Mexicans intercalated five days 
at the end of the year; their zodiacs originally commenced 
with the same sign, and the number of Mexican weeks of thir- 
teen days in their great cycle of fifty-two years, is precisely 
equal to the number of years in the great Sothiac period ; the 
latter coincidence, however, may be accidental. § 

Those who have contested the great antiquity of the Chi- 
nese and Hindoo astronomical calculations, have been to much 
labor in proving, that the astronomers of these nations were in 
the habit of making back calculations, until a period was at- 
tained when many of the celestial bodies were in conjunction. 
This opinion is of no more importance here than as showing, 
that those ancient people were acquainted with certain great as- 

* Saulnier's Observations on the Circular Zodiac of Denderah. 

f The Egyptians, in their astronomical representations, says 
Denon, bind or twine two serpents round a globe. Travels in Egypt, 
vol." i. p. 305. 

+ Origines, vol. ii. p. 203. 

§ Hum. Res., vol. ii. p. 229. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 327 

tronomical periods or cycles, at the expiration of which, the 
stars, planets, sun, and moon returned to the same places in the 
heavens. This fact, in conjunction with the prevalent idea of 
the eternity of matter, probably gave rise to the exaggerated 
notions of the age of the earth, universal among these nations, 
and in combination with the tradition of the deluge, induced 
the belief of the Cataclysms, or that at the end of these great 
ages, a tremendous convulsion of nature took place. Thus 
Censorinus says, " But the year which Aristotle calls the great- 
est, rather than the great, is that in which the sun and moon, 
and all the planets complete their courses, and return to the 
same sign from which they originally started together. The 
winter of this year is the Cataclysm, which we call the deluge, 
but its summer is the Ecpyrosis, that is, the conflagration of the 
world : for at these alternate seasons, the world is burned 
and deluged."* The Egyptians preserved " in written records 
the memory of the event, that since the commencement of the 
Egyptian race, the stars have completed four revolutions, and 
the sun has twice set where he now rises. 5 'f We find Cata- 
clysms in the traditions of the Celts, but in accordance with 
their system of Triads, there had been only three. The first 
was a deluge, in which all mankind, save two, were destroyed. 
The second, a conflagration which was destructive to the great- 
est part of the human race, and the third was a scorching sum- 
mer, fatal alike to vegetation, animals, and men.! The Mexi- 
can and Acolhuan traditions borrowed from the Toltecs, stated 

* Censorinus de Natali Die in Cory, p. 323. Seneca Nat. Q,tipest. 
cxi. 29. 

f Pomponius Mela, in Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 163. 
X Welsh Archaeology, vol. ii. p. 57. 



328 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



that the world had undergone four periodical revolutions, after 
which the sun was created for the fifth time. The first age 
was terminated by a great famine — the second by fire — the 
third by tempests, and the fourth by a deluge.* 

The Maya traditions described three ages, the last of which 
was terminated by an inundation ;f at the end of their great 
cycles they went in religious processions to their sacred places 
and temples, probably to intercede with the gods against the 
return of these periodical calamities. The Peruvians appear to 
have had similar traditions, and they believed that the world 
would perish at the end of one of the ages ;J processions and 
sacrifices, similar to those made by the Mexicans, were custo- 
mary with the Muyscas at the end, or rather the opening of 
each great cycle, and they were probably based upon the same 
superstition. § The Brahmins generally taught the same opin- 
ion, and four ages, terminated by precisely the same causes, are 
mentioned in some of the old Hindoo authorities. A tradition 
of a fifth age, like the Mexican, existed in Thibet. || 

It was believed by the Mexicans upon the faith of a tradi- 
tion, that the destruction of the world would again take place 

* Hum. Res., vol. ii. p. 20. Clavigero says the fourth age had 
not yet terminated — vol. i. p. 289 — and he changes the order of the 
ages. The Siamese also believe in the successive destructions and 
reproductions of the earth. CrawfuraVs Siam, vol. ii. p. 66. 

f Waldeck, pp. 37, 46. 

X Lafitau, p. 229. 

§ Pike mentions a tradition among some of the western Indians 
that the world would be destroyed by another deluge at some future 
period. Expedition, p. 78. 

|| Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 171. Hum. Res., vol. ii. pp. 16, 
245. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



329 



at the end of a great cycle. The five intercalary days, which 
ended the last year of the age of fifty-two years, were spent in 
great mourning, in anticipation of this dreadful catastrophe. 
Then garments were rent, and all the domestic utensils de- 
stroyed as being of no further use, and on the fifth day, the sa- 
cred fires were extinguished in all the temples. On the eve- 
ning of this, the last day, when the Pleiades had crossed the 
meridian, which was the indication that the dreaded calamity 
would not occur, the sacred fire was again kindled, and at this 
signal from the summits of the Teocalli, the land was filled 
with rejoicings. When, finally, the reappearance of the sun in 
the morning confirmed their safety, anxiety was at an end and 
mutual congratulations were exchanged. This remarkable 
custom finds its counterpart in Egypt. "When the Egyptians 
saw the sun descend from the Crab towards Capricorn, and the 
days gradually diminish, they were accustomed to sorrow from 
the apprehension that the sun was about to abandon them en- 
tirely. This epoch corresponded with the festival of Isis ; but 
when the orb began to reappear, and the duration of the days 
grew longer, they robed themselves in white garments, and 
crowned themselves with flowers."* 

The Goddess of the Syrians, according to Macrobius, was 
" feigned to lament when the sun, in his annual progress through 
the twelve signs of the zodiac, enters a part of the lower hem- 
isphere. When the sun arrives in the lower signs, and the days 
begin to shorten, Venus is represented as lamenting him, as if 
he were snatched away by death, and detained by Proserpine." 
" Again they pretend that Adonis is restored to Venus when 



* Achilles Tatius. See also Herod. Euter., 142, 4. Bucolics, v. 4. 

42 



330 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN" AND 

the sun, having made his way through the six inferior signs, be- 
gins to traverse the regions of our upper hemisphere."* Mr. 
Pritchard, in citing this passage, remarks, that the same customs 
prevailed in Egypt under different names, and quotes an ex- 
tract from Plutarch to the effect, that " the common time for the 
solemnization of these festivals was within that month in which 
the Pleiades appear. 5J f 

The Chinese. Hindoos and other primitive nations had a 
tradition of a time when the colure of the equinox intersected 
the constellation of the Pleiades. "With the Arabs, their rising 
with the sun, anciently betokened the return of spring, and their 
setting, autumn. I They rose heliacally in the age of Taurus, 
and when the sun passed into Aries, they naturally still re- 
mained for many years the sign of the vernal season.§ In 
Greece, their heliacal rising was considered favorable to mar- 
riners, and indicated also the seasons to the husbandman.|| Ac- 
cording to Censorinus,H some of the ancients began " the year 



* The Indian Vishnoo slept through the winter months and rose 
in the spring. The priests of Adonis lamented his annual wound, 
when the sun, after the autumnal equinox, had descended to the lower 
hemisphere. Drummomd's Origines. vol. ii. p. 414. 

f Pritchard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 65. 

I Landseer, pp. 323, 115. 

§ £: When Atlas-horn, the Pleiad stars arise 
Before the sun. above the dawning skies, 
'Tis time to reap ; and when they sink below 
The morn-illumined west, 'tis time to sow." 

Hesiod. Trans. 

II Theoc, Idyll xiii. v. 25. Vide Herod.. L ii. c. 57. 
"Jf In Cory, p. 328. Pliny, lib. xviii. c. 25. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



331 



from the rising or setting of Vergilia" (Pleiades), and this 
constellation occupied an equally important position in the as- 
tronomical systems of Eastern Asia.* The Mexicans and other 
nations of Anahuac, as we have seen, marked the termination 
of their great cycles by these stars, and celebrated their passage 
over the meridian by rejoicings. The Peruvians appear to 
have regarded the same constellation with veneration,! and the 
Araucanians knew and named these stars.J The Tapuyas, the 
oldest race in Brazil, watched the rise of the Pleiades, and wor- 
shipped them with songs and dances.§ The Abipones, says 
Dobrizhoffer, think the Pleiades "to be the representation of 
their grandfather, and as that constellation disappears at cer- 
tain periods from the sky of South America, upon such occa- 
sions, they suppose that their grandfather is sick, and are un- 
der a yearly apprehension that he is going to die ; but as soon 
as those seven stars are again visible in the month of May, they 
welcome their grandfather as if returned and restored from sick- 
ness, with joyful shouts and the festive sound of pipes and 
trumpets."|| Intermediate America and Asia, the same stars were 
watched by the Polynesian islanders, and their rising (heliacal) 
divided the year of the Society islands into two seasons.TT 

All the nations of the East, appear to have hailed with re- 

* Hum. Res., vol. i. p. 387. 
t Vega, vol. i. p. 106. 
% Molina, vol. ii. p. 85. 

§ Southey's Hist. Brazil, vol. i. p. 380. Dobrizhoffer, vol. ii. p. 94. 
|| Ibid. vol. ii. p. 65. 

IT Polynesian Researches, vol. i. p. 79. The Javanese anciently 
regulated the season of sowing by the appearance of the Pleiades. — 
Crawfurd's Ind. Archipelago, vol. i. p. 300. 



332 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



joicings the appearance of the first new moon of the year, or 
the first new moon after the vernal equinox. In the fourth 
Mexican month, which lasted from the ninth to the twenty- 
ninth of March, was celebrated the Cohuailhuitl, or festival of 
the Snake. This was the season of the vernal equinox, and 
the festival was in honor of the goddess Cihuacohuatl, or the 
woman serpent. Now the moon was often anciently denoted 
by the figure of a dragon, which was a known emblem of light 
in its darting motion. Accordingly, even among the barbarous 
tribes of America, when eclipses occurred, they superstitiously 
believed that the sun was attacked by a great dragon or ser- 
pent, an idea probably derived from the figure of the animal 
by which the moon was usually represented. 

In relation to the Egyptian legends, wherein it is said that 
the body of Osiris was cut into pieces by Typhon, Plutarch re- 
marks, that "those who join with the physiological accounts, 
certain mathematical matters relative to astronomy, suppose 
Typhon to mean the orb of the sun, and Osiris that of the 
moon." So likewise in the Mexican mythology, we read of 
the woman serpent or the Moon, devoured by the Sun, a myth 
probably descriptive of the change in the phases of the moon. 
It thus appears probable that in the Mexican, as well as in the 
ancient astronomy, the serpent was one of the emblems of the 
moon ; and as in Mexico, the woman serpent or moon, was 
styled " mother of our flesh," so in Egypt, that luminary was 
called " mother of the world."f 

* Landseer's Sabaean Res., p. 78. Humboldt's Res., vol. i. p. 290. 
Clavigero, vol. i. p. 246. Hymns of Callimachus. 

| Pritchard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 72. The Egyptians ap- 
pear to have know the constellation of the Great Bear by that name. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



333 



The superstition just referred to, appears to have been com- 
mon to nations in both continents. The Mexicans believed 
when there was an eclipse of the sun or moon, that one of those 
bodies was being devoured by the other. On these occasions 
they displayed great grief, and to terminate the conflict, dis- 
charged their arrows towards the heavens ; they also beat their 
dogs and servants, in hopes that by their howling and cries the 
same result would be produced. The Peruvians believed these 
phenomena portended some great calamity ; that the eclipsed 
body was sick and about to die, in which case the world would 
perish. As soon as an eclipse commenced they made a dread- 
ful noise with their musical instruments ; they struck their dogs 
and made them howl, " in the hope that the moon, which they 
believed had an affection for those animals in consequence of 
some signal service which they had rendered her, would have 
pity on their cries."* The Araucanians called eclipses the 
" deaths " of the Sun and Moon.f The Remos, on the banks 
of the Ucayale, have similar notions, and discharge arrows to- 
wards the heavens, believing that some wild beast is devouring 
the eclipsed body.t " If an eclipse happens," says Charlevoix, 
speaking of the Indians of Canada, " they imagine there is some 
great combat in the heavens, and they shoot many arrows into 
the air, to drive away the pretended enemies of the sun and 
moon. The Hurons, when the moon is eclipsed, fancy that she 

— Drummond's Origines, vol. ii. p. 176. Saulnier's Observations on 
the Zodiac of Denderah. The Indians of Canada, says Charlevoix. 
" give the name of the Bear to the four first of those we call the Great 
Bear." Voyage, vol. ii. p. 172. Tanner's Narrative, p. 321. 

* Vega. vol. i. p. 10S. t Molina, vol. ii. p. 84. 

X Smyth's Narrative, etc., p. 230. 



334 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



is sick, and to recover her from this sickness, they make a great 
noise, and accompany this noise with many ceremonies and pray- 
ers ; and they never fail to fall upon the dogs, with sticks and 
stones, to set them a yelping, because they believe the moon 
loves those animals"* 

The Chinese, Malays, and Hindoos had similar supersti- 
tions. In China, according to Grosier, when an eclipse occurs, 
a frightful noise of drums and cymbals is made ; the Chinese 
" think that by such a horrid din, they assist the suffering lumi- 
nary, and prevent it being devoured by the celestial dragon."! 
In every improved language of the Indian archipelago, says 
Mr. Crawfurd, " an eclipse is called Grahana, and the dragon 
which the Hindus suppose attempts to devour the luminary, 
Rahu, both of them pure Sanscrit words." " The -Malays some- 
times call an eclipse, 'the devouring by the dragon,' makan 
Rahu. There is to this day hardly a country of the archipelago, 
in which the ceremony of frightening the supposed monster 
from his attack on the luminary is not performed. This con- 
sists in shouting, in striking gongs, but above all, in striking 
their stampers against the sides of the wooden mortars."! 

The astronomical analogies which have been thus briefly 
detailed are of great extent, and indicate an origin at some an- 
cient epoch. They do not prove that the civilized Americans 
came either from Egypt, Etruria, or Hindoostan, but at the 
same time, they give rise to the idea, that many of these affin- 
ities were derived from some primitive and common source. 

* Voyage, vol. i. p. 173. 

f Grosier's China, vol. ii. p. 433. Barrow, p. 191. 
I Crawford's Indian Archipelago, vol. i. p. 305. Marsden's Su- 
matra, p. 194. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



335 



They increase in weight, however, as we approach Oriental 
Asia; there we find among the Siamese and Javanese the 
months divided into light and dark halves ;* and there also, is 
the only appearance of a method of computing time similar tc 
the Mexican. The Mexican week was composed of five days, 
and on every fifth day, their fair or great market was held.f 
The week in Eastern Asia, as derived from Hindoostan, con- 
sisted of seven days, and as such was known to the Java- 
nese and Siamese. But it is curious that the original na- 
tive Javanese week consists of five days, and its principal use 
"is to determine the markets or fairs;" this week is called Pa- 
kanan, or market-time. Of the etymology of the words desig- 
nating the five days, nothing is known ; but the week appears 
to form a part of an ancient civil calendar, existing before they 
had any communication with the Hindoos, the relics of which 
are insufficiently understood. It seems clear, however, that 
the divisions into which the year was divided, in this system, 
related to no astronomical period, but were of arbitrary dura- 
tion like the Mexican months. The year was divided into 
thirty months, which Mr. Crawfurd thinks each expressed half 
lunations ; and one of the native cycles, probably related to the 
same calendar, like the Maya age consisted of twenty years.! 

The examination of the astronomical knowledge of the 
Mexicans and other American nations, satisfactorily indicates 
not only the existence of accurate ideas of the movements and 

* They reckoned according to the days of the divisions, and not 
of the whole month. Crawfurd 1 s Siam, vol. ii. p. 19. 
f Clavigero, vol. i. p. 293. 

J Crawford's Indian Archipelago, vol. i. pp. 292, 304. 



336 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



relations of the heavenly bodies, but also a series of observations 
continued for many ages.* These systems were partly of na- 
tive origin, but in their numerous analogies to those of other 
ancient nations, we discover relics of a high antiquity, and 
which justify the conclusion that they are the remains of a 
primitive system of astronomy, the characteristic features of 
which, have been more or less preserved by almost every an- 
cient civilized people. They afford, therefore, the highest 
and clearest evidence of early cultivation, and, in determining 
the epoch of the migration to this continent, carry us back to 
that period when mankind were first scattered abroad over the 
face of all the earth. 

There are some circumstances which have induced antiqua- 
rians to suspect, that the ancients were skilled in Optics, and 
applied their knowledge in that science to the prosecution of 
celestial observations, a conclusion, which the perfection at- 
tained in astronomy appears to favor. Sir W. Drummond, and 
other writers, have cited some curious passages from the authors 
of antiquity, corroborative of this conjecture. Thus Aristotle 
says, that the Greeks employed mirrors when they surveyed the 
heavens; the Pythagoreans asserted, that the surface of the 
moon was diversified by mountains and valleys; the Greeks 
used burning mirrors of glass, and concave and convex metallic 
mirrors, according to Suidas and Plutarch ; and there was a 

* In their paintings, eclipses and the appearance of comets were 
marked. Boturini stated that the eclipse of the sun which happened 
at the death of the Saviour was denoted in the paintings, in the year 
7, Tochtli ; and Clavigero, in commenting upon this assertion, says 
that he found the 30th year of our era to correspond with 7, Tochtli. 
— Hist. Mexico, vol. i. p. 87. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



337 



report among the same people, that Pythagoras had shown let- 
ters written on the disk of the moon, by means of a mirror. 
Strabo remarks, that " vapors produce the same effects as the 
tubes, in magnifying objects of vision by refraction," and he 
also says, that a large mirror was elevated on the summit of 
the Temple of the Sun, at Hieropolis in Egypt, and another at 
Pharos. M. Bailie asserts, the ancients knew that the milky 
way consisted of stars ; and the Persians had a tradition to the 
same effect ; from the number of stars which, according to 
Pliny, had been counted in his time, the same conjecture is sup- 
ported ; and the missionaries found more stars marked in the 
celestial charts of the Chinese than formerly existed in those of 
Europe. Democritus likewise said, that some of the planetary 
bodies were unknown to the Greeks. The Chaldeans asserted 
that they had discovered more. These, it would seem, could only 
have been the satellites of Jupiter, and perhaps of Saturn. That 
the Brahmins had discovered these satellites, may be strongly 
inferred from their reckoning the planetary bodies to be fifteen 
in number. A similar supposition has been made in relation 
to the Druids, of whom Diodorus Siculus says, that they brought 
the sun and moon near to them. The exquisite engraving of 
the gems found in Egypt, needing the aid of the microscope in 
its execution, indicates the same fact in that country. The 
learned authors,* from whose researches these authorities have 
been taken, seem to have overlooked another curious circum- 
stance corroborative of this conjecture — the use of mirrors in 
the ancient religious ceremonies. The Etruscan paterce found 

* Drummond's Origines. vol. ii. p. 246. Higgins's Celtic Druids. 
Davies ? Celtic Researches, p. 192. 

43 



338 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



in the sepulchral chambers, upon which scenes of mythological 
history are often engraven, were probably real mirrors, and had 
some connection with the sacerdotal office.* The same misno- 
mer was given to the silver pater ce in Egypt, by Quintus Curtius,f 
when speaking of the ceremonies practised by the priests of 
Ammon, when they consulted the oracles. The custom was, 
he says, to carry the image of the deity in a golden ship, 
on each side of which hung many silver paterae. The Delphic 
priests were also known by the name of Paterae.! In Hindoo- 
stan, Kali, the wife or goddess of Siva, who represented time 
the destroyer, is sometimes represented with a mirror in her 
hand. The Chinese circular mirrors are like those still found 
in Egypt,§ metallic mirrors are found in the Mongolian mounds 
in Siberia, and we know that they are still employed by the 
Mongols in the Budhaistic religious ceremonies. In Mexico, 
we are told that in one of the temples there was " a house of 
mirrors," and the name of the Mexican god " Tezcatlipoca," 
who was the prototype of the Hindoo Siva, signifies " Shining 
Mirror."|| To this may be added the testimony of Ulloa, who, 
speaking of a mirror seen by him, which had been taken from 
one of the Peruvian mounds, which was concave, and greatly 
magnified objects, remarks, " I have seen them of all kinds, 
(convex, plane, and concave,) and from the delicacy of the 
workmanship one would have thought, these people had been 
furnished with all kinds of instruments and completely skilled 
in optics."TT 



* Anthon's Class. Diet, Etruria. f Liber iv. c. 7. 

% Bryant's Myth., vol. i. p. 308. § Davis's China, vol. ii. p. 230, 

|| Clavigero, vol. i. p. 244. T[ Ulloa, vol. i. p. 495. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



339 



CHAPTER IX. 

ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES. RELIGION. 

Philosophy and history alike sustain the position, that the 
sentiment of religion is common to the whole human race, and 
is an element in the very constitution of our moral nature. A 
clear distinction, however, may be drawn between such reli- 
gious systems as appear to be pure inventions of man, and such 
as present internal evidence of having been transmitted by tra- 
dition from the primitive ages of the world. In the latter class 
we find ideas the origin of which cannot be traced to the light 
of nature or the human reason, though when once known, both 
nature and reason testify to their truth. The belief in one Su- 
preme Being, seems to be a characteristic exponent of this kind, 
tending to indicate, when existent among nations unreclaimed 
by Christianity, that they have received this noblest portion of 
their faith from an ancient traditionary source. The human 
mind in a depraved and unenlightened state, is not capable of 
arriving by its own strength at the idea of unity in the govern- 
ing power of the Universe, but on the contrary, the natural 
course of reasoning with degraded and barbarous tribes seems 
always to have resulted in Polytheism. Every manifestation 
of power is attributed to the agency of a distinct and indepen- 
dent spirit. The first step is to conceive the existence of evil 
spirits. The beneficent powers of nature — those agencies work- 
ing gradually and unseen, for the production of good throughout 



/ 

340 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

the earth, are so quiet in their progress, and imperceptible in 
their action as to escape the observation of an ignorant and 
unreflective mind ; but the sudden and active operations of the 
elements, which sweep on in violence, leaving death and ruin 
in their track, are palpable developments of power, and being 
superior to human control, are attributed to deities of evil dis- 
position. Thus the winds and waves, the lightning, thunder, 
and tempest are, at the same time, feared and worshipped. As 
observation becomes more extended, as man advances in ac- 
quaintance with the laws of matter, — the calmer changes of 
nature, which are always working in goodness, are perceived ; 
his religion then expands into a purer belief, and benign spirits 
are created. But even in a higher civilization, equal to the 
most intellectual days of Greece, the Polytheism originated in 
darker ages retains its grasp upon the soul. 

It has been doubted, and w 7 ith considerable force, whether 
from the brighter light and clearer evidences of modern science, 
— all-penetrating, all-grasping, — Natural Theology can claim, 
as its own fruit, the proof of the existence of one God, indepen- 
dent of the previous illuminations of revelation ; but it certainly 
cannot be, that barbarism, without such divine aid, direct or 
traditionary, can reach so lofty, so august a conception. The 
attribution of all the operations of nature, apparently so discor- 
dant in their action, and so dissimilar in their origin, to one 
controlling power, is attained and proved by the results of 
modern science and observation, only through that strict and 
searching examination which has developed a harmonious sys- 
tem of regulation pervading the whole, — a system, by which 
effects, the most diverse in their character and appearance, are 
deduced from the same laws acting upon different bodies, in 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



341 



different states. Thus we know that the whole universe, in its 
lowest and most insignificant parts, — in its minutest details, as 
well as in its grandest sphere of action, is constituted under a 
few fundamental laws, conceived in the highest wisdom, plan- 
ned with the most wonderful skill, and acting in the most con- 
summate order and harmony. It is from these evidences of de- 
sign, and above all from this harmonious action of the princi- 
ples of nature, triumphantly developed and confirmed by every 
successive discovery in natural philosophy, that natural theology 
has deduced its noblest truths. Surely then, the human mind, 
in a state of degradation and rudeness, — benighted and uncul- 
tivated, cannot be deemed capable of attaining a conclusion, 
which has been awarded only to the most advanced state of 
knowledge the world has yet known. And if this be true, that 
wondrous part of the Indian faith, the belief in the existence of 
One Supreme Being, is not of indigenous origin, but transmitted 
from a primitive source. The same course of reasoning may 
be applied to the belief in the immortality of the soul, and a fu- 
ture state of rewards and punishments. Savages do not reason 
like philosophers, and yet in the most enlightened ages these 
doctrines, had they not been confirmed by sacred evidence, in- 
stead of being ranked among the class of well ascertained truths, 
could only have been considered as probabilities. It is true, 
that so far from being opposed to reason and to morals, they 
find approving arguments and sympathies in the human soul ; 
and hence it was, the renowned of antiquity were urged by the 
voice of nature from within, to reason, and to argue, and to 
press the intellect into the struggle, but the result was scarcely 
more successful than to show that by the light of reason the 
immortality of the soul was a reasonable probability. Even 



342 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

Plato, confiding in this inward testimony, was " sure of the thing, 
but not of the argument," — and so likewise Cicero. " Any one 
conversant with his writings must know that he could get no 
further than this, that it was desirable rather than certain. 
Cicero has collected together the opinions of hundreds of phi- 
losophers on such subjects, and what he has said may be looked 
upon as a fair sample of what deism can do. No deist can 
hope to go further on this point than Cicero."* Are we not 
justified, then, in considering a faith in these doctrines as evi- 
dence of the origin of that barbarous people, in whose religion 
they are incorporated and recognized, from a more enlightened 
and civilized ancestry ? 

With this criterion, whereby to test the source of the reli- 
gious tenets of nations, let us examine those religious institu- 
tions of the great American family, which have been rashly 
classed as depraved superstitions without a ray of the true light 
which lighteth the world, and we will discover relics of a more 
noble creed, which at the same time carry us back to those 
primeval periods when man still worshipped his Maker, and 
exhibit some interesting points of connection by which the abo- 
rigines are affiliated to the ancient nations of the old world. 
We may pursue this chain of argument with the more certainty, 
because that sentiment which generally renders man so firmly 
attached to his religious belief, thereby securing its unalterabil- 
ity, is a peculiar trait of the American race in common with all 
the primitive nations of the old continent. It is one of the in- 
dices of the ancient origin of any people — for ancient theology 

* Christianity a Divine Revelation, by Robert Broadley, Curate 
of Eccles, Lancashire, p. 15. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



343 



was unchangeable. Innovations were rejected with holy horror 
■ — rites and ceremonies, tho*igh the original meaning of^vhich 
they were but symbolic were wholly lost, were still adhered 
to because of their very antiquity. 

In treating of the religious institutions of the American abo- 
rigines, the same view will be found to embrace the barbarous 
as well as the civilized nations, another evidence of their com- 
mon origin. " The more I search into the ancient history of 
the world," says Schlegel, " the more am I convinced that the 
cultivated nations commenced with a purer worship of the Su- 
preme Being ; that the magic influence of nature upon the 
imaginations of the human race, afterwards produced. Polythe- 
ism, and at length entirely obscured the spiritual conceptions 
of religion in the belief of the people, while the wise men alone 
preserved the primitive secrets in the sanctuary. Hence the 
mythology appears to me to be the latest developed, and the 
most fluctuating part of the ancient religion." 

The evidences of a belief in, if not worship of a Supreme 
Being, among most of the American tribes, are clear and numer- 
ous. The Esquimaux, it has been thought, are an exception to 
this assertion, but it seems that they have notions of a great and 
good Spirit of superior power ;* and that they do not believe 
in the dissolution of the soul at death, is evident from their su- 
perstition as to the northern lights, which they call " the spirits 
of the dead 5" other northern tribes term the same phenomenon 
" the dance of the dead." 

The Patagonians pray to their chief demon or ruling spirit. 
Falkner says, that at the head of their good deities, is " the 



* Parry, Graah. 



344 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Lord of the dead," and Pennant, that this great and good be- 
ing, %called " the Creator of all tfcings."* The Fuegians have 
ideas of a Superior Being.f 

Some of the Californian tribes believe, that there is in hea- 
ven a Lord of great power, denominated Niparaya, " who made 
the earth and the sea, gives food to all creatures, and created 
the trees and every thing we see," and who is not visible, pos- 
sessing no physical form like man. The Cochimies, the most 
numerous nation of California, said that there was in heaven a 
being w T hose name signified, " He who lives, and who created 
all things."J The Indians of the Upper Orinoco, worship a 
good Spirit who regulates the seasons and the harvest ;§ the 
Guaranies believed in God, and also in a spirit of evil they 
called Ana. — " We already know," said one of the chiefs of 
this tribe, "that there is some one who dwells in heaven."|| 
The Patagonians, says the same author, described the Creator 
as a Being " worthy of all veneration, who cannot be seen and 
who does not live in the world ;" they believed also in the im- 
mortality of the soul. 

The Araucanians, in their religious system, acknowledged 
a Supreme Being, called " Pillan," a word derived from Pulli 
or Pilli, the soul, and which signified the Supreme Essence. He 
was also termed, " the Spirit of heaven — the Great Being — the 
Thunderer — the Creator of all — the Omnipotent — the Eternax 

* King and Fitzroy, vol. i. pp. 76, 90 ; and Falkner and Pen- 
nant, cited in ibid. vol. ii. pp. 161, 162. 
f Ibid. vol. i. pp. 227, 315, ii. 167, 190. 
+ Venegas. Hist. Calif, vol. i. p. 88. Ibid. p. 92. 
§ Hum. Pers. Nar., vol. iv. p. 273. Depon's Voyage, vol. i. p. 197. 
|| Dobrizhoffer, vol. i. pp. 62, 63 ; vol. ii. p. 90. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



345 



— the Infinite." He was invoked in prayers.* They also be- 
lieved in the immortality of the soul ; that it is carried away 
after death towards the West beyond the sea, but before it en- 
ters its paradise, that it is obliged to pay toll to a malicious and 
wicked spirit.f 

The Arikaras believed in a Supreme Being, " the Master 
of life the Osages in a great and good Spirit, and in future 
rewards and punishments. t 

The Brazilian tribes acknowledged the existence of a great 
Creator, to whom some sang hymns of praise, and they admitted 
the immortality of the soul, but with the qualification that the 
spirits of their chiefs and sorcerers entered into a state of enjoy- 
ment, while those of the others were condemned to wander 
about the cemeteries.§ 

Of the nations occupying the north-eastern portions of the 
United States, a similar account is given. || Loskiel says, " The 
prevailing opinion of all these nations is, that there is one God, 
or, as they call him, one great and good Spirit, who has cre- 
ated the heavens and the earth, and made man and every other 
creature."' " That they consider the soul as immortal, and even 
suppose a resurrection of the body, may be inferred from their 
usual manner of expressing themselves, when they say, ' we 
Indians cannot die eternally ; even Indian corn, buried in the 
ground, is vivified and rises a°;ain.' Many believe in the trans- 

* Molina, vol. ii. pp. 75, 77. 

| Ibid., vol. ii. pp.79, SI. Freziers Voyage, p. 59. 
| Brackenridge's Journal, p. 152. Des. Red River, p. 119. Nut- 
tail's Arkansas, p. 95. 

§ Henderson's Brazil, pp. 210, 213. 

|| Loskiel, pp. 33, 34, 36. Charlevoix, Voy.. vol. ii. pp. 16. 109. 

44 



346 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



migration of souls, and imagine that they were with God be- 
fore their birth, and came from him ; or that they have been 
formerly in the world, and are now living over again." They 
seem also to have had very distinct ideas of a future life, in 
which the good were rewarded, and retribution was awarded for 
moral offences. Charlevoix bears testimony to the same point, 
and adds, " The belief the best established amongst our Ameri- 
cans, is that of the immortality of the soul. Nevertheless they 
do not believe it purely spiritual, no more than their Genii, and 
to speak the truth, they cannot well define either one or the 
other. When we ask what they think of their souls, they an- 
swer, they are as it were the shadows and the animated im- 
ages of the body : and it is in consequence of this principle, 
that they believe every thing is animated in the universe. 
Therefore it is entirely by tradition that they hold that our souls 
do not die." Hecke welder informs us, that their children are 
taught "that they are indebted to a great, good, and benevo- 
lent Spirit, who not only has given them life, but has ordained 
them for certain great purposes."* Ct Many winters ago," said 
Tecumseh, " there was no land, the sun did not rise and set : all 
was darkness. The great Spirit made all things."- " There 
is still another great Father to whom I am much indebted," said 
a Pawnee chief, £i it is the Father of us all — he who made us 
and placed us on this earth."! 

The Knisteneaux acknowledge the existence of the great 

* Heckewelder's Historical Account p. 98. 
t Hunter's Memoirs, p. 48. 

1 Buchanan's Sketches, p. 41. See an able article on religion in 

this work. ■ 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



347 



"Master of life;"* and the Chippewyans, a future life, where 
vice is punished and virtue rewarded. 

A similar faith was observed among the natives of the West 
India islands. They revered the great Spirit ;f and had a firm 
confidence in the righteous judgments of another world, as may 
be gathered from the extraordinary address reported to have 
been made by one of the chiefs of Cuba to Columbus. " Whe- 
ther you are divinities or mortal men," said he, " we know not. 
But if you are men, subject to mortality like ourselves, you can- 
not be unapprised, that after this life there is another, wherein 
a very different portion is allotted to good and bad men, If, 
therefore, you expect to die, and believe with us, that every 
one is to be rewarded in a future state according to his conduct 
in the present, you will do no hurt to those who do none to 
you." 

Passing now to the civilized nations, we find similar reli- 
gious notions. The Mexicans worshipped " a supreme, abso- 
lute, and independent Being, to whom they owed fear and ado- 
ration." Ct They believed him to be invisible, and named him 
only by the common appellation of God, in their language 
Teotl." They called him also, [palnemoani, that is, He by 
whom we live, and Tloque Nahuaque, He who has all in him- 
self. "J They believed also in the immortality of the soul, and 
a future state of rewards and retribution. The Peruvians, as 
also the nations whom they conquered and termed barbarians, 
recognised the same great Being under the title of Pachacamac. 

* McKenzie, vol. i. p. 124. Ibid. pp. 155, 157. 

f Edwards' Hist, p. 80. X Clavig., vol. i. pp. 241, 242. 



348 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Hence Garcillasso de la Vega says,* that the sun was 
worshipped, but as the symbol of the Supreme Being, whom 
they called Pachacamac, or " the soul of the world," — " he 
who made the world which word was so sacred, that it was 
spoken only with extreme dread. " W e acknowledge," said 
the Inca Atahualpa, addressing Pizarro, " no other gods than 
Pachacamac, who is Supreme — the Sun, who is inferior to him, 
and the Moon, who is his sister and wife ;" and again, " The first 
is God, whom we call Pachacamac and Viracocha."f The Peru- 
vians not only believed in the immortality of the soul and future 
retribution, but, according to Vega, Cieqa, Gomara and other 
authors, in the resurrection of the body ; and according to the 
latter, the Spaniards, when they opened the tombs and scat- 
tered the bones, were besought by the natives to refrain, so that 
the dead " might find them together when they should rise : 
from which it is manifest," he adds, " that they believed in the 
resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul." Many 
of the superstitious rites connected with interment, as prac- 
tised by most of the Indian tribes, the articles deposited in the 
grave, the reverence for the dead, the great and unwearied 
care evinced in the preservation of their bodies or bones, all 
tend to excite a suspicion that the same idea of resurrection 
was originally more prevalent. 

If we compare these ideas with those of some of the an- 
cient nations of the other continent, some analogies are devel- 
oped. Upon examining the religious opinions of the Hindoos, 
we find the Supreme Being recognised. Thus, in the Puranas, 

* Commentations, vol. i. p. 50. 

f Garcillasso, vol. ii. Trois. Ed., 1688, p. 455. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



349 



God is styled "the great God; the great omnipotent, omnis- 
cient one; the greatest in the world ; the great Lord who goes 
through all worlds incapable of decay." In the Vedas, he is 
called "the pure Brahme, whom none can apprehend as an 
object of perception, above, around, or in the midst. The first 
born, the God who pervades all regions. He, prior to whom, 
nothing was born ; who became all beings — himself the Lord 
of creatures ; He, who made the fluid sky and solid earth ; who 
fixed the solar orb and celestial abode ; whom heaven and earth 
mentally contemplate ; the mysterious Being, in whom the uni- 
verse perpetually exists, resting on that sole support ; in whom 
this world is absorbed, and from whom it issues."* Mr. Prit- 
chard, in his learned analysis of the Egyptian mythology, de- 
monstrates that they had an idea of a First Cause, and regarded 

* Asiatic Res., vol. viii. p. 352. Ibid. p. 432. " We cannot re- 
fuse, 5 ' says Mr. Schlegel, " to admit that the ancient sages of India 
possessed some idea of the true God. All their scriptures are indeed 
full of phrases and expressions, which declare this doctrine, in as dig- 
nified, as clear and exalted a manner, and in terms as profoundly 
scrutinized and as definite, as human language can adopt, in reference 
to the nature of an infinite being/' — Schlegel, tr. in Pritchard's My- 
thology, p. 232. 

" The Supreme Being alone existed ; afterwards there was uni- 
versal darkness ; next the watery ocean was produced by the diffusion 
of virtue: then did the Creator, Lord of the Universe, rise out of the 
ocean, and successively frame the sun and moon." — Colebrook on the 
Vedas, vol. viii. As. Res., p. 397. 

" Originally the Universe was indeed soul only ; nothing- whatever 
existed, either active or inactive. He thought, 1 1 will create worlds.' 
Thus he created these various worlds, water, light mortal beings, 
and the waters." — As. Res. : vol. viii. p. 421. 



350 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



the Deity as an eternal, intellectual and spiritual Being.* Eu- 
sebius says, that the Egyptians " acknowledged one intellec- 
tual Author or Creator of the world, under the name of Cneph," 
and adds, that he was a benevolent Spirit. Plutarch styles 
him " an uncreated and immortal Being and Jamblichus, 
as " a self-intelligent mind, absorbed in his own contempla- 
tions," and as " the ruler of the celestial gods." That both of 
these nations entertained the doctrine of the immortality of the 
soul, and that it existed in a state of happiness or misery here- 
after according to the actions of this life, is still more clear. 

In China, among many superstitions, vestiges of an ancient 
faith in, and worship of the Supreme Being, are still existent. 
They considered the Creator as a Supreme and creative intelli- 
gence, under the names of " Tien," " heaven," and " Shang- 
ty," "the Supreme Ruler," who pervades the universe, and 
awards moral retribution. Tien, or heaven, " stands at the 
head of their moral, as well as physical system, and most of the 
attributes of the Deity are referred to it. The common people 
colloquially apply to it a term of respect, equivalent to venera- 
ble Father, or Lord, and Choo-tsze himself says, on one occa- 
sion, that c heaven means God.' "f The Chinese " philoso- 
phers," or " sect of the learned," have attacked the doctrine of 
the immortality of the soul, but this belief is universally preva- 
lent among the people, and is the basis of most of their super- 
stitious practices. 

* Euseb. Prsep. Evang., lib. iii. p. 174 ; lib. i. c. 10. Plut. de 
Is and Osiris. Jamblichus de Mysteriis. sec. viii. cap. 3, as cited in 
Pritchard, p. 170, et seq. 

f Hist, of China, by J. F. Davis, vol. ii. pp. 68, 78. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



351 



The Polynesians, as appears from their traditions, believe in 
the Supreme Being, of whom they say, " that he is the soul of 
the universe ; that it is he that imparts life and intelligence to 
every thing that lives, and has understanding ;" * * " that he 
alone is all and in all; both creation and the Creator;" * * 
" that being alone in existence, he transformed himself into the 
Universe " that he is an uncreated Being, self-existent, the 
Supreme Intelligence,"* 

Such are the traces of the original pure worship which, un- 
alloyed with the inventions of man, at a remote era prevailed 
among the ancestors of the American aborigines in common 
with ancient nations of the old world. How far this analogy 
affords ground for tracing their origin, has already been ad- 
verted to ; but upon further inquiry, we find developed a most 
singular instance of the preservation of a vital tenet of primi- 
tive religion, also common to both hemispheres, and that is, a 
recognition of the principle that the Supreme Being is not to 
be adored in representations by images, a tenet the more re- 
markable amid a system of idolatry otherwise universal. No 
savage tribe of America has been found that worshipped or 
represented the great Spirit by a carved image. To the Mas- 
ter of life they sometimes address their prayersf and hymns of 
praise, but as to a Spirit not to be figured in material work- 
manship. Their various inferior deities are venerated under 
numerous forms and shapes, but with these their idolatry ends. 
The same may be observed of the civilized nations, whose sys- 
tem of image worship, with this single exception, was no less 

* Silliman's Am. Journal, vol. xxx. pp. 285, 287, 288. 
f Mackenzie's Voy., vol. i. p. 124. Heckewelder's Hist, acc. p. 
204. 



352 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



extensive. The Supreme Being, as worshipped by the Mexi- 
cans, was left unrepresented by any image, " because they be- 
lieved him to be invisible." There was but one temple in all 
Peru dedicated to Pachacamac, and that was not erected by the 
Peruvians proper, and when asked the cause, that people re- 
plied, that "they had never seen him, wherefore they built no 
temples for his worship, nor offered him sacrifices, and that they 
regarded him as the unknown God."* 

Many of the Indian tribes of North America paid adoration 
to the heavenly bodies.f The Hurons said their chiefs were de- 
scended from the Sun, and that the sacred pipe was derived from 
the same luminary, being first presented to the western Paw- 
nees, and by them transmitted to the other tribes.! The Man- 
dans and Minitarees have a similar tradition. § Both the Algic 
nations and the Iroquois|| venerated the Sun, and it is probable, 
their council fire was a remaining symbol of their ancient reli- 
gion. The Natchez and other southern tribes, were fire-wor- 
shippers, and erected temples and performed sacrifices to the 
Sun. IT The natives of the West India islands worshipped the 

* Vega. vol. i. p. 61. Clavigero, vol. i. p. 242. 

j Charlevoix, pp. 145, 195. J Ibid., p. 133. 

§ Nuttall's Arkansas, p. 276. 

|| Colden's Hist. Five Nations, vol. i. pp. 115, 175. Schoolcraft's 
Narrative, p. 20. 

T| " The greatest part of the nations of Louisiana had formerly their 
temples, as well as the Natchez, and in all these temples a perpetual 
fire is kept up. It should even seem, that the Maubilians enjoyed a 
sort of primacy in religion over all the other nations in this part of 
Florida ; for when any of their fires happened to be extinguished 
through chance or negligence, it was necessary to kindle them again 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



353 



same celestial body, together with the Moon.* The Delawares 
and Iroquois, according to Loskiel, also offered sacrifices to the 
Sun and Moon, and had a festival in honor of the element of 
fire, which they considered the first parent of the Indian na- 
tions.f Incense or smoke, probably from a beautiful analogy 
in its ascending course to the heavens, was an ancient symbol 
of prayer, and we find it used as a method of adoration by the 
Indians. The Osages smoke to the Sun.J The Sioux, Arau- 
canians,§ Creeks and Hurons, to the Sun and to the cardinal 
points,|| as did also the Natchez and other southern tribes. The 
Indians of California asked the Jesuit fathers w T ho first visited 
them, whether they were " Sons of the Sun," looking upon 
them as deities.H The Botocudos of Brazil, " held the moon in 
high veneration, and attributed to her influence the chief phe- 
nomena in nature."** The Caciques of the Guaranies, were 
called " Suns ;"f f and the Puelches worshipped the Sun.tJ Thus 
it appears that the adoration of the heavenly bodies, and fire 



at theirs. But the temple of the Natchez is the only one subsisting at 
present, and is held in great veneration by all the savages inhabiting 
this vast continent." — Charlevoix, Voyage, vol. ii. p. 273. 

* Edwards. Hist. W. Ind., vol. i. p. 80. 

t Loskiel, pp. 41, 43. 

% Nuttall's Arkansas, p. 95. 

§ Molina, vol. ii. p. 71. 

|| Bartram's Travels, p. 450. Description of the Ohio, p. 177. 
Nuttall, p. 175. Brackenridge's Journal, p. 138. 
TT Venegas. Hist. California, vol. i. p. 164. 
** Mod. Trav. Brazil, vol. ii. p. 183. 
ft DobrizhofFer, vol. i. p. 60. 
XX Ibid. vol. ii. p. 89. 

45 



354 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

worship, which anciently existed among the Etrurians, Greeks, 
Egyptians, Hindoos, Scythians, Chinese, Mongols, Mexicans, 
Muyscas and Peruvians, was common likewise to most of the 
barbarous American tribes. 

The Polytheism of the barbarous tribes was most univer- 
sal in its character. It has been seen that, in common with 
other ancient nations, they believed in the existence of a Su- 
preme and benevolent Being, presiding over the Universe, but 
that this belief was nearly, if not wholly, more an abstract faith 
than a practical one. It was connected, however, with another 
idea — the doctrine of emanations. The high and sublime con- 
ception of the omnipresence of the Creator, was degraded into 
the superstition, that a portion of his Spirit animated each one 
of his works ; and from this opinion, the progression was rapid 
to the belief in numerous independent spirits, good and evil, ac- 
cordingly as the object, supposed to be animated, exercised a 
good or malign influence. The worship of the celestial bodies 
and of fire, a belief in the transmigration of souls, animal wor- 
ship, the practice of magical arts and sorcery, were the succes- 
sive steps of debasement from a noble primitive creed, and con- 
stituted the real practical religion of the aborigines. 

In the development of this singular Polytheistic system, the 
whole visible and invisible creation is animated — vitality is 
given to all the material world, and the earth and the heavens 
are filled with an active and life-like intelligence, from the 
lowest animal in the scale of being to the orbs of the celestial 
sphere. Those objects with which man is in continual inter- 
course and contact, being thus animated with souls, methods 
of conciliating them, not only by sacrifices and fasts, but by an 
extended system of necromancy, are suggested by the crafty 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



355 



and cunning, pretending to supernatural powers. Different 
beings are supposed to occupy various shapes in another state 
of existence ; unseen spirits are continually floating in the sur- 
rounding atmosphere ; — the decay of matter, and the phenom- 
ena of life and death, whereby changes are perpetually induced 
in creation, are merely manifestations of the transfer of a spirit 
from one state of existence into another, while the Sun, Moon, 
and Stars, constant and steady in their course, are viewed with 
a higher reverence, as superior to and exempt from the general 
law of decay ; — such was the groundwork of the American Po- 
lytheism ; and its developments were in correspondence. The 
w r orship of the Creator, though still existent, as w*e have show T n, 
appeared almost like a forgotten and time-worn relic in the 
aboriginal religious rites. Sabaism was the first stage of 
degradation, and accordingly we find its vestiges somewhat 
more prominent, though it was supplanted, in a great degree, 
by the grossest system of Polytheistic idolatry. 

Garcillasso de la Vega labors with great zeal to prove, that 
the Incas permitted no other worship than that of Pachacamac, 
and the heavenly bodies. If this were so, those sovereigns 
made the most important innovations in the religious customs 
of their subjects, for before the foundation of that empire there 
prevailed a most extensive system of idolatry. All nature, an- 
imate and inanimate, seems to have been adored, and not only 
were the elements considered as divine, but also every material 
object, however vile or monstrous. Besides these, each indi- 
vidual had a particular deity to whom his prayers were ad- 
dressed, and who w T as believed to have an especial care and 
guardianship over his devotee. They had also implicit faith in 
dreams, and drew from them prognostications of future events. 



356 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



Some tribes had sorcerers who pretended to possess the means 
of communication with evil spirits, and through their agency, 
to exercise the prophetic art.* In addition to the ordinary of- 
ferings of fruits and animals, they sacrificed human beings of 
all ages ; and the entrails were examined to discover if the 
sacrifice were acceptable. Animals were believed to have souls, 
and to be distinguished from man only by the absence of reason. 
In one case we have clear evidence of a belief, that the souls of 
the dead, after a time, return and enter the bodies of infants at 
their birth. In all these ideas, are to be perceived the charac- 
teristic features of that religious faith which lay at the very 
root of the ancient mythology of Egypt and Hindoostan — the 
idea of a universal soul, from which all life proceeds and into 
which all life is resolved. And upon examining the supersti- 
tions of the other aboriginal nations, they appear to be all con- 
formed to the same original type. Without entering into a 
detail of the complex system of Mexican idolatry, it is sufficient 
to state that they believed in an evil spirit, the enemy of 
mankind, thirteen principal gods, and numerous inferior deities, 
the images of which were placed in their houses like Penates. 
They considered animals as having immortal souls, and it was 
customary at funerals to kill a techichi, a domestic quadruped 
resembling a dog, to accompany the deceased in his journey to 

* In the valley of Rimac, in Peru, was the Huaca of Rimac. or 
£{ the god that speaks" which name appears to have been given to the 
deity worshipped there, by the ancient Indians, " because he spoke to 
fhem and answered their questions:''' in fact here was the Oracle 
of the Indian nations. — Ruschenberger, p. 202. In the Quichua this 
word signifies, "to speak," "to disclose a secret." — Vocabulario 
Qquichua, p. 326. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



357 



Paradise; they believed also in the doctrine of transmigration. 
Human sacrifices were customary ; and on particular occasions, 
in preparation for the sacred festivals, they engaged in peni- 
tential practices, such as fasting and watching, mangling and 
cutting their flesh, piercing the tongue and other parts with the 
spines of the aloe, and similar acts of austerity. Among their 
priests was a class called diviners, probably like the Indian sor- 
cerers or physicians ; and the practice of the medicinal art was 
accompanied with many superstitious ceremonies. 

The only priests known among the barbarous tribes were 
Sorcerers or jugglers, who claimed supernatural powers by 
means of a pretended intercourse with some evil spirit. The 
Indians attributed all diseases to the agency of evil demons, and 
thus the Sorcerers came to exercise the healing art. For the 
purpose of obtaining an interview with these spirits they pre- 
pared themselves by fastings, w T atchings, and ablutions. They 
then resorted to incantations, violent exercise, dancing and 
contortions. The more convulsive these physical contests, the 
greater w T as the power of the invisible being whom they sought 
to render obedient to their commands ; and finally, the triumph 
of their supernatural skill was exhibited in feats of leger- 
demain, such as stabbing themselves with knives without draw- 
ing blood, and swallowing arrows and clubs. They then pro- 
ceeded to prophesy, and to cure the sick. These singular rites 
were common to nearly all the tribes from the Arctic ocean to 
Cape Horn.* 

* The Egyptians believed that diseases were occasioned by 
wicked demons, and their cures were founded mostly on magical arts, 
by which the demons were coerced or conciliated. PritcharcVs Anal- 
ysis of the Egyptian Mythology, p. 94. Also, Lane's Modern Egyp- 
tians, vol. i. p. 310. 



358 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



The Patagonians and Fuegians believe in the existence of 
a multiplicity of spirits, good and evil, and each family has 
its own household god or idol ; they consider sickness to pro- 
ceed from the influence of some evil spirit, and for the purpose 
of exercising control over these invisible beings, there are wiz- 
ards or necromancers.* The Guaranies also have magicians 
who cure diseases, and foretell the events of the future. At 
the interment of the dead, they kill the horses and dogs of the 
deceased at his grave.f These jugglers, who possess supernat- 
ural powers, are called Keebet ; they fast before commencing 
their magical ceremonies. The reverence for the dead among 
these southern tribes, equals that entertained by the natives of 
any other part of the continent. All the Brazilian tribes be- 
lieve in numerous evil spirits, and consequently have their con- 
jurors, who are diviners, priests, and physicians.J The sick are 
often cured by them, by smoking or sucking the part affected, 
in which manner the wicked spirit causing the malady is ex- 
pelled. An idea of these superstitions may be gathered from a 
description of those of one tribe, the Coroados. " They ascribe 
a direct intercourse with the demons to their Paje. who is ac- 
quainted with many powerful herbs, appears to be at the same 
time their priest and physician, and contrives to maintain his 
credit among them by all kinds of conjuring tricks. In extra- 
ordinary cases he is applied to for his advice, which he gives 
after consulting the demons ; for which purpose he generally 
chooses a dark tempestuous night. * * The Indian also 
wears round his neck strings of the eye-teeth of ounces and of 



* King and Fitzroy, vol. i. pp. 90, 227 ; vol. il. pp. 155, 162. 
•f Dobrizhoffer, vol. i. pp. 62, 139; vol. ii. pp. 67, 90, 271. 
X Henderson's Brazil, p. 213. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



359 



monkeys, of certain roots, fruits, shells, and stones, which he 
thinks will protect him against the attacks of wild beasts and 
against diseases. The Paje administers many medicines, which 
are often prepared with magical ceremonies, practises a kind 
of exorcism by fumigation, and maintains the fear of the Indians 
for spirits by superstitious customs and narratives; but the mis- 
fortunes, sickness, and death of the neighbors are often ascribed 
to his sorceries, and he then atones for his practices with his 
life."* 

The Araucanians believe in a multitude of inferior spirits, 
who are invoked by their diviners or jugglers.f The Indians 
in the northern part of South America also admit the existence 
of evil spirits. They have religious societies composed of con- 
jurors called Piaches, who are priests and physicians. The 
candidates are subjected to long fasts, flagellations, and other 
preliminary ceremonies : they are then permitted to blow the 
sacred trumpet, to invoke the evil spirits in dances, to cure the 
sick, and to prophesy. These rites are said to be very ancient, 
and to have been handed down from their forefathers.;); As the 
Esquimaux so bury the body, that it shall not be pressed by the 
earth, these tribes hold that the earth must not touch the corpse. 

The Charibs of the West India islands had also their mam- 
cians, called Boyez, who exercised an influence over the Mabo- 
yas or evil divinities. The candidate for admission into this 
caste was compelled to undergo severe penance by rigorous 

* Spix and Martius, vol. ii. p. 244. 
t Molina, vol. ii. pp. 78, 91. 

- + Hum. Pers. Nar., vol. iv. pp. 273, 354. Depon's Voyage, vol. i. 
p. 193. 



360 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



fasts, scourges, suffocating fumigations, and horrid lacerations 
of the body. By these means a familiar spirit was placed at his 
command, and he took his rank as a prophet and physician.* 
Similar customs prevailed among the Arrowauks. 

Passing to North America we find the same rites universal.f 
The Californian tribes had their sorcerers, who, with other curi- 
ous customs, were in the habit of consulting little tablets of 
wood, made with great labor, on which were painted grotesque 
figures, the meaning of which was taught those who were initiat- 
ed into the priesthood, but concealed from others; these seem to 
be similar to the religious songs of the Algonquins. The Ari- 
caras have the usual Indian belief in the powers of magic, and 
in their preparation for those ceremonies practise personal 
severities, not surpassed even by the most horrid acts of self- 
torture customary in Hindoostan. Some cut and scarify their 
bodies ; others suspend themselves by the arms or legs or the 
sides, by hooks in the flesh. " I was shown a boy," says Mr. 
Brackenridge, "who had drawn two buffalo heads several hun- 
dred yards, by cords fixed in the fleshy parts of his sides. I 
might enumerate a variety of other particulars, in which this 
strange self-punishment is carried to the greatest lengths."! 
The Esquimaux believe in the existence of a multitude of infe- 
rior and evil spirits, who are exorcised or conciliated by their 
Angekkoks or sorcerers.^ With the Copper and Dog-ribbed In- 
dians no medicine, save charms, is used for any disease. Their 



* Hist. Spanish Disc, vol. ii. p. 154, seq. 

f Venegas, vol. i. pp. 69, 74, 100. 

X Brackenridge's Journal, p. 160. 

§ Parry's Voyage, pp. 145, 331, 325, 451. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 361 

jugglers pretend to swallow knives and hatchets, and their skill 
in these feats of legerdemain is so great, that intelligent observ- 
ers have been unable to detect the deception.* In Virginia the 
conjurors, as described by Captain Smith, practised the same 
rites, and the young men, who desired to be admitted into the 
religious caste, were subjected to flagellations and tortures, 
which often terminated in death.f 

The Algonquin-Lenape tribes all had their sorcerers. " The 
most dangerous deceivers among the Indians," says Loskiel, 
" are the so-called sorcerers."t Indeed it seems to be necessary 
for every savage to have his manitto, or tutelar spirit or deity. 
To these manittos they have recourse " when they are in any 
danger, when they go on any enterprise, and when they w 7 ould 
obtain some extraordinary favor. They think they may ask 
any thing of them, however unreasonable it may be, or how T ever 
contrary even to good behavior and honesty. But children, 
they supp'ose, are not born under their protection. They must 
first know how to handle a bow and arrows to merit this favor. 
There must also be some preparations to receive it. This is the 
most important affair of life."'§ The child, after fastings and other 
ceremonies, was supposed to perceive in his dreams the form 
or shape under which his manitto manifested himself, the im- 
age of which from that time he carried with him, and to which 
he in future directed his prayers. To become conjurors or med- 
icine-men other ceremonies are necessary, the principal of 
which, however, are long fasts. The incantations and other 
rites practised by these impostors, present little diversity from 



* Hearne, p. 293. f Voyages and Discoveries, vol. i. p. 140. 
X Loskiel, p. 46, etc. § Charlevoix. Voyage. 

46 



362 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

those already described. The most remarkable of these are the 
songs and dances for the Metai and for medicine-hunting, which 
are permitted only to the initiated. These are taught by figures 
carved on wood, and by their means the spirits are controlled, 
and the sorcerers obtain power over the animals of the chase, 
the lives and health of men, and disclose the secrets of futurity. 
Sacrifices appear to have been formerly of very general preva- 
lence among these tribes, and, according to Loskiel, they were 
of u very ancient date, and considered in so sacred a light that 
unless they were performed in proper time and in a manner 
acceptable to the deity, they suppose illness, misfortunes, and 
death itself would certainly befall themselves and their fami- 
lies." All these songs, dances, and feasts seem to be con- 
nected with religion, and to have been preserved traditionally.* 
It thus appears that a most astonishing conformity prevails 
in the religious ideas and customs of most of the aboriginal 
tribes in both continents, — a resemblance so strikin'g, indeed, 
as alone to justify a belief in their common origin. These rites, 
it is to be observed, are nowhere of recent invention, but are 
invariably considered as derived from some ancient source. In 
the songs, allusions are often made to mythological ideas which 
are characteristic of the cults of Eastern Asia, and the magical 
practices are clearly of an Oriental character, though in remote 
ages they appear to have been common to many ancient na- 

* James, in Tanner's Narrative, pp. 286, 341. Loskiel, p. 40. 
Van Der Donck'sNew Netherlands. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. i. p. 
203. Charlevoix, ibid. McKenzie's Journal, p. 101. Schoolcraft's 
Nar., p. 68. Pike's Expedition, part ii. app. p. 10. 

According to Loskiel, the Delawares believed in the Metemp- 
sychosis. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



363 



tions. Amid all these dark and hideous institutions, we can 
perceive feeble glimmerings of a loftier and purer religion, 
which recognized the Supeme Being. And even to this day, 
nothing is more usual for the Indians than to address their 
prayers to the great Spirit. Sabaism appears to have been 
the first step of degradation, and though at the discovery 
retained principally by the civilized nations, to have been, 
at some remote epoch, common to the barbarous tribes. 
Its purest form seems to have been still preserved by the 
Peruvians, who worshipped the Sun as the symbol and em- 
blem of Divine Power. Sabaism was based upon the principle 
of divine emanations, and the barbarous tribes extended this 
idea to its utmost development, — it was the foundation of their 
Polytheism and system of magic. 

We are surprised to find among the aborigines many other 
religious customs and ideas, which, though enveloped in myste- 
ries, and clouded by fables and superstitions, are manifestly relics 
of the primitive faith. It would appear as if the various branches 
of the human race carried with them, after the dispersion, rays of 
that original moral light which once enlightened all mankind. 
It is no despicable proof of the antiquity and sanctity of those 
great truths, to find among our aborigines a belief in the existence 
of a Supreme Being, a firm faith in the immortality of the soul, 
in a state of future retribution, in the doctrine of atonement as 
ernblemized in sacrifices and expiatory self-punishments, in a de- 
luge, and in the final destruction of the world with all its inhab- 
itants. The early missionaries failed not to perceive these 
analogies to many of the principles of our own religion, and 
sought to explain them upon the supposition that the Gospel 
had once been preached in America by some of the primitive 



364 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



fathers ; but in view of the proofs of the antiquity of the race 
upon this continent, it seems just to suppose that the aborigines, 
in common with some of the ancient nations in the old world, 
had preserved feeble vestiges of those great truths which were 
known to man in primeval ages, and which have been purely 
preserved only in the sacred writings.* The testimony of Char- 
levoix, on this point, is interesting. "Furthermore," he re- 
marks, " the ideas, though quite confused, which they have 
retained of a first Being ; the traces, though almost effaced, of 
a religious worship which they appear to have rendered form- 
erly to this Supreme Deity, and the faint marks which we ob- 
serve, even in the most indifferent actions, of the ancient belief 
and the primitive religion, may bring them more easily than 
we think, into the way of truth, and make their conversion to 
Christianity to be more easily effected than that of more civ- 
ilized nations." 

* The Indians generally placed the abode of the spirits of the 
dead in the west. This circumstance has been supposed to indicate 
the direction of the country whence they originally proceeded ; but it 
seems to be an ancient myth common to many other nations. The 
Hindoos placed the abode of their gods and their paradise in the 
west ; so likewise the Chinese, Thibetians, Greeks, Persians, Ger- 
manic nations, and the Celts. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



365 



CHAPTER X. 

ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES. 

With the general data now possessed, the path is open to- 
wards a brief examination of such analogies as exist between 
the aboriginal monuments, customs, and institutions, and those 
of several nations of the other hemisphere. 

The Celts. In many parts of England and Ireland there 
are mounds and mural remains, which exhibit a striking resem- 
blance to the ancient monuments in the United States and South 
America. These consist of square and circular earthen enclo- 
sures, some of which are thought to be of a sacred character 
like that at Circleville in Ohio ; of sepulchral mounds or tumuli; 
of fortifications, surrounded by ditches and embankments ; and 
of terraced hills cut into an artificial form, similar to those in 
Peru. From these circumstances, and from a correspondence 
in some of the Celtic rites and customs with those of the abori- 
gines, conjectures have been advanced, that the authors of the 
ancient remains at the West, may have been connected in some 
way with the former inhabitants of Great Britain. But as ap- 
pears by the profound researches of Dr. Pritchard, the Celtic 
and Sanscrit are kindred languages, and the result of the inves- 
tigations of English antiquarians seems to be conclusive as to 



366 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



the eastern origin of the Celtic nations.* It is through Orien- 
tal Asia, therefore, that the Celtic and American monuments 
are affiliated. It is not surprising that those streams of popu- 
lation, which flowed from the same primitive fountain should 
present many traits of similitude. Though these two races ap- 
pear to be dissimilar physically, their common Oriental origin 
may serve to explain such analogies as have been traced be- 
tween their arts and customs. 

Madagascar. A race physically approximated to the type 
of the Red race, has been observed in this island. Accord- 
ingly, we find a great correspondence in their customs and in- 
stitutions with those of the Polynesians and Americans. This 
people are divided into tribes ; they trace their genealogies 
through the female line ; they revere the dead ; like many of 
the American nations, they scrape the flesh from the bones of 
the corpse ; with the deceased are buried his weapons, and his 
wealth ; and over the ancient graves tumuli were erected, some 
of which present the form of graduated or terraced pyramids. 
They manufacture cloths like those of the Polynesian islanders, 
and they formerly fortified their towns by surrounding them 
with immense embankments and ditches, excavated from the 

* Higgins' Celtic Druids. Pritchard's Eastern Origin of the 
Celtic Nations. O'Brien. Fosbrooke. Davies' Celtic Researches. 
Davies, on the authority of the following passage from an ancient song 
in the Welsh Archaeology, conjectures that knotted cords were ancient- 
ly used : " It is time to go to the banquet' with the artists employed 
about their mystery, with a hundred knots, after the manner of our 
countrymen." The Druids believed in the transmigration of souls, 
and were skilled in the practice of magic. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



367 



earth with incredible labor. And in fine, they attribute dis- 
eases to the agency of evil spirits, and have a particular class, 
who practise the arts of medical magic and divination, exactly 
similar to the American sorcerers or conjurors.* According to 
Mr. Ellis, the language of these tribes belongs to the Polyne- 
sian class, and they are supposed to be the descendants of Ja- 
vanese colonists. 

Etruria. Italy, it is well known, was occupied in distant 
ages by enlightened nations, who have been distinguished by 
the learned under various names, as the Pelasgians, Oenotrians, 
Etruscans, Ausonians, and Oscans. From their traditions and 
monuments, the Oscans and Etruscans, or rather the Etruri- ■ 
ans, appear to be assimilated to the cultivated races of Amer- 
ica. Every thing relative to these people, however, is envel- 
oped in mysterious darkness. Even the Etruscan language 
which was once understood by the Romans, is now entirely 
lost. Like the Mexican, it appears to have been harsh, and 
consonants were its predominant sounds. Antiquarians have 
traced some analogies to the Mexican language, and the words 
deciphered in a Perugian inscription in Tuscany, Spancxl, 
Eplt, and Thunchultl, certainly bear some resemblance to the 
Mexican. The divination, the rituals, and the sacred ceremo- 
nies of the Romans, which were mostly of Etrurian origin, indi- 

* Hist. Madagascar, by Rev .W. Ellis, vol. i. pp. 73 ; S3, 110. 127; 
vol. ii. pp. 164, 221, 55. etc. 

In the appendix to this work the following passage occurs : 
Hence it may not be extravagant to express an opinion that the 
great Polynesian language has extended its powerful influence even 
into the two remote continents of Africa on the west, and South 
America on the east." Vol. i. p. 493. 



368 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



cate that worship of nature and of the elements, which was the 
first and purest form of Sabaism. On the day of the third and 
great festival of the Mexican god Tlaloc, the god of water, 
which was held in the month of May, the temple was strewed 
with rushes brought from the lake Citlaltepec. After perform- 
ing other sacrifices, the priests, followed by the people in pro- 
cession, proceeded to a certain part of the lake where in former 
times there was a whirlpool, and plunged two children of dif- 
ferent sex into the water, together with the hearts of the other 
human victims who had been sacrificed. In Italy, on the Ides 
of May, the Vestal Virgins took thirty images of men made 
of rushes, and accompanied by a sacred procession, threw the 
mock sacrifices into the Tiber, from the Sublician bridge, in the 
place of an equal number of human beings formerly devoted to 
the same rites. In Mexico the termination of a cycle was at- 
tended with the extinguishment of the old fires which w T ere 
kept in the Teocalli, and the kindling of the new with joyous 
ceremonies. The Etruscans also celebrated their secular pe- 
riods by festivals, and at Rome, on the first of March in each 
year, a new fire was lighted in the temple of Vesta. 

The Romans derived their most ancient calendar from the 
Etrurians. The year of Romulus consisted of three hundred 
and four days, subdivided into ten months, and w 7 eeks of eight 
days. This, like the Aztec ritual calendar, is manifestly arbi- 
trary and derived from no astronomical period. The Aztec 
ritual month, it has already been observed, represented the light 
and dark halves of the moon, and the same division into half 
lunations is perceived in the Roman Ides. Both of these curi- 
ous systems of chronology, bore a relation to a certain great 
secular period which they measured, and which was formed 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



369 



from an accurate idea of the true duration of the solar year. 
The Etrurians had a great cycle of one hundred and ten years, 
during which two intercalations were made in the fifty-sixth, 
and one hundred and tenth years, whereby the religious year 
of three hundred and four days, and its eight day divisions, cor- 
responded with the true time and the course of the sun. The 
close of the great Mexican cycle of one hundred and four years 
was the time also when the ritual year of two hundred and 
sixty days accorded with the solar year. The peculiar con- 
struction of these calendars is to be elucidated only by refer- 
ence to the religious institutions of Italy and Mexico. They 
had probably been adopted at an early age, as the only prac- 
ticable means of celebrating the rites of religion upon certain 
stated days. In all important public ceremonies, in all festi- 
vals, in the fulfilment of vows and the performance of sacri- 
fices, " where even an involuntary transgression threatens to 
draw down vengeance" from heaven, this invariable and uner- 
ring system became highly valuable as a sacred calendar, 
whilst at the same time some degree of real order was preserved 
by making it correspond at the end of a particular number of 
years with the course of the sun.* The Mexicans appear to 
have calculated the length of the year at three hundred and 
sixty-five days, five hours and fifty minutes, and the Etrurians 
at three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours and forty mi- 
nutes, a degree of accuracy which excites our astonishment ; 
and like other ancient people, they both believed that at the 
end of certain astronomical cycles, periodical changes in na- 



* Was not the same object attained by the great Sothiac Period 
in Egypt ? 

47 



370 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



ture would occur, and these were watched with great anxiety 
and fear. 

In Italy and America, human sacrifices were customary 
at the graves of chiefs and other illustrious individuals, but in 
Italy they were eventually superseded by gladiatorial exhibi- 
tions. Reference has been made to the gladiatorial contests 
which were usual in Mexico upon certain religious festivals 5 
on the other hand, the Etrurians introduced gladiatorial games 
into Italy, and their use and prevalence at Rome may be traced 
to this source. 

The massive style of architecture, and some of the peculiar 
features which characterize the arts of the Etrurians, are sup- 
posed to have been borrowed from the first and conquered in- 
habitants of the country ; and the same remark is applicable to 
many of the Etrurian institutions. For the origin of all such 
traits of resemblance as may appear, we are to go back to the 
earliest ages of Italian history. The most ancient style of ar- 
chitecture in Italy belongs to that, which, from its colossal char- 
acter, the use of prodigious masses of stone, and from tradition, 
is called the work of the giants or the Cyclops. In America, 
and particularly in Peru, the great size of the stones, the ap- 
pearance of polygonal walls, and of the Cyclopean arch, indi- 
cate a similar method of construction. Pliny, on the authority 
of Varro, has transmitted to us a description of the mausoleum 
of Porsenna, above which was raised a series of 'pyramids, 
which indicate analogies to the structures of Egypt and Mex- 
ico. The custom of burning the dead ; of depositing articles 
used by the deceased in his lifetime, in the* sepulchres ; the 
practice of divination; the conical caps worn by the Roman 
Flam ens, from which he took his name, and which were 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 371 

common in the East, and are perceived on the Mexican monu- 
ments ; the dramatic entertainments, which were original with 
the Oscans, borrowed from them by the Etruscans, and thence 
introduced, subsequently, into Rome ; the religious use of cir- 
cular mirrors : the incinerary urns and vases ; the Etruscan pat- 
terns observed in the Mexican monumental paintings ; the Red 
men painted on the walls of the tombs at Tarquinii, all es- 
tablish other links of connection between the Etrurians and the 
civilized nations of America ; not as indicating, however, that 
the latter were of Etrurian origin, but as proving the great an- 
tiquity of these features in their monuments and institutions ; 
not as establishing; a regular and lineal descent, but rather sug-- 
gesting an ancient connection in the remotest ages of the world, 
when the arts, customs, and religion of primitive nations re- 
ceived that stamp which still continued to characterize them 
after the separation of nations. 

Egypt. As it has been attempted to trace the Etrurian civ- 
ilization to Egypt, so the original connection and identical 
origin of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt and India has been 
maintained with great ability and learning. As will shortly 
be shown, some of the pyramidical edifices of Egypt are pre- 
cisely similar to the Mexican terraced pyramids ; in the orna- 
mental stucco work of Mitlan and other American temples ap- 
pear those peculiar borders of meanders and grecques, which are 
found alike upon the ruins of Etruria, Egypt,* and India ; and 
the Cyclopean arch was common to the Mexican and Egyptian 
monuments. The entrances to the Egyptian temples or propy* 
Icea are in fact truncated pyramids. Most of the Egyptian py- 



* Denon, vol. ii. p. 5. 



372 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



ramids face the cardinal points ; many of the temples, or sacred 
places are surrounded like the American, by enclosures or walls 
of brick and stone f the pyramids are often approached by 
elevated causeways or roads ;f and as is often the case in Amer- 
ica, the temples were in the vicinity of water, with which they 
communicated by avenues, or by subterranean passages ; or they 
contained in their interior, basins or tanks of water for the 
sacred services. Sepulchral mounds or tumuli are to be ob- 
served in Egypt, and the Egyptians interred with the dead the 
instruments of their profession. No nation bestowed more care 
in disposing of the remains of the dead than the Egyptians ;t 
Dupuis§ declares " ancestral veneration" to be one of the traits 
of Sabaism, and this sentiment is a peculiar feature in the abo- 
riginal character. Embalming was customary in Peru and 
other civilized countries, and was common also to many of the 
barbarous tribes. The same doctrines appear to have prevailed 
in relation to the transmigration of souls, and the Mexicans, 
like the Egyptians, believed in the existence of a mansion for 
the dead, where the spirit remained for a temporary period until 
it was sent back again to inhabit other bodies, — in Mexico, 
usually, the bodies of animals.|| Mictlanteuctli, the Mexican 

* Burckhardt, p. 50. f Belzoni, vol. ii. pp. 158, 160. 

X In the Aztec and Toltec sacrifices, the breast of the victim was 
opened with a knife of obsidian, and the heart taken out. In Egypt, 
though great skill had been attained in metallurgy, yet stone knives 
have been found in the tombs, and the body of the dead, in the process 
of embalming, was opened with an Ethiopia stone, or flint. — Wil- 
kinson, vol. ii. pp. 261, 262. 

§ Dupuis, vol. i. p. 25. 

|| Clavig.j vol. i. p. 242. Pritchard's Egyptian Mythology, p. 202. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 373 

"lord of hell" resembles the Egyptian Sarapis, or ruler of the 
dead ; the Egyptian Anubis was represented in his statues with 
the head of a dog ; dogs were sacred animals and fed in his tem- 
ples, and it was the office of this god to conduct the souls of 
the dead to their place of destination.* One of the chief cere- 
monies at the Mexican funerals, " was the killing a techichi, a 
domestic quadruped, resembling a little dpg, to accompany the 
deceased in their journey to the other world. * * They w r ere 
firmly persuaded, that without such a guide, it would be impos- 
sible to get through some dangerous ways which led to the 
other world."f 

The religion of the aboriginal nations partook of the same 
primitive character as that of Egypt. The traits of resem- 
blance were the recognition of the existence of a Supreme Be- 
ing, the neglect of his worship for a debased idolatry, the belief 
in divine emanations, the doctrine of a divine triad, the worship 
of the elements, of the celestial bodies,J and of animals, the 
practising of fasts, ablutions, and expiatory punishments in pre- 
paration for sacred festivals, the association of a female with 
some of the principal male deities, human sacrifices, astrologi- 
cal and magical divination, and the belief in the metempsycho- 
sis, and the immortality of the soul. Some of the animals sa- 
cred in America were also worshipped in Egypt, as the dog, 
the serpent, the eagle, the owl, the tortoise, and the wolf.§ As 
in the Egyptian mythology, Osiris stands opposed to Typhon, 



* Pritchard, p. 126. f Clavig., vol. i. p. 325. 

X The Pharaohs had the same name as the Peruvian Incas — 
"Children of the Sun." 

§ Denon, vol. ii. p. 71. Garcillasso de la Vega, vol. i. p. 72. 
Pritchard, pp. 292, 295, 390. Herod., 1. i. c. 6. 



374 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



the one representing the creative and the other the destroying 
power, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca take precisely the same 
place in the Mexican mythology. Osiris was the instructor of 
mankind, and taught them agriculture and other useful arts, — 
the same office was assigned to Quetzalcoatl. Osiris travelled 
for the purpose of reclaiming foreign nations from barbarism, 
and it was in the midst of a banquet on his return, that Typhon 
laid a stratagem for his destruction. Tezcatlipoca desiring to 
drive away Quetzalcoatl, offered him a beverage which imme- 
diately inspired him with the desire to set out for the imaginary 
country of Tlapalla, and on his journey he suddenly disappeared 
upon the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.* On the other hand a 
similar parallel may be drawn between Isis and the Mexican 
goddess, Centeotl. Isis taught the cultivation of corn, and re- 
presented the earth and the passive productive powers of nature. 
Centeotl was "goddess of the earth and ofcorn,"f and typified 
the fertility of nature ; Isis was called " mistress " and " mo- 
ther," and was the first of the goddesses, and Centeotl was de- 
nominated Tonantzin, " our mother," and Teteoinan, " the mo- 
ther of the gods." Without entering into details, it may be 
added, that the same impure worship which appears to have 
been produced by a recognition of these principles in the Egyp- 
tian religion, seems to have existed also in America. Hum- 
boldt thought otherwise ; but the recent discovery of some an- 
cient idols in the western part of the United States, and the 
sculptures at Uxmal described by Waldeck, set this question at 
rest : at the same time it must be admitted that these rites were 
not extensively prevalent. 



* Clavig., vol. i. p. 248. 



f Ibid., p. 253. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



375 



Quetzalcoatl in some of his attributes, presents also some 
remarkable analogies to the Egyptian Thoth or Hermes. The 
former was called " green feathered serpent," and " the god of 
the air," was supposed to have the most profound wisdom, and 
introduced the knowledge of melting metals and of cutting gems, 
established wise laws, the rites and ceremonies of religion, and 
the arrangement of the seasons and the calendar;* he was also 
said "to clear the way for the god of viaterP Hermes taught 
the arts and sciences, sculpture and astronomy, and imparted the 
institution of religion ; he was identical also with Sirius, " the 
star which served as the precursor of the inundation of the JV?7e."f 
The Egyptians regarded the heart as the seat of the intellect, 
and hence the Ibis, which from its form was symbolical of the 
heart, was sacred to Hermes as the god of wisdom.J " The 
Cholulans," says Clavigero, " preserved with the highest vene- 
ration, some small green stones very well cut, which they said 
had belonged to Quetzalcoatl." These stones were sacred to 
that deity ; and their signification appears from another passage 
from the same author in his description of the Mexican funeral 
rites. " After burning the body, they gather the ashes in an 
earthen pot, amongst which, according to the circumstances of 
the deceased, they put a gem of more or less value, which they 
said would serve him in place of a heart in the other world." 
And again, " they hung an emerald at the under lip, which 
was to serve in place of a heart" * * " Emeralds were 
so common that no lord or noble wanted them, and none 
of them died, without having one fixed to his lip, that it might 



* Clavig., vol. i. p. 249. 

| Anthon's Class. Diet., article Mercurius. 

| Pritchard, p. 129. 



376 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



serve him, as they imagined, instead of a heart." The two 
small pyramids of challa, with the figure of a heart engraven 
upon them, discovered by Del Rio at Palenque, w T ere probably 
symbolical of the same idea. 

There are remains of causeways or roads in Egypt, which 
may compare with those in America;* the art of irrigation w r as 
practised on the same extensive scale, and many of the Egyp- 
tian cities were surrounded by earthen embankments for the 
purpose of protection against inundations,-}- w T hich appears also 
to have been the object of many of the mural remains in the 
United States. 

The Hermaic books preserved in the Egyptian temples, like 
those of the Aztecs, contained the outlines of their astrology, 
astronomy, their rituals, the histories of their mythology, and 
indeed all that was known of the arts and sciences, which were 
in the possession of the priests alone. The Mexican manu- 
script painting possessed many of the attributes of real hiero- 
glyphical w T riting. It did not consist merely of mimetic images, 
such as are often found on the Egyptian tombs, but it was fet- 
tered by prescribed forms; nearly all its elements had a fixed 
meaning, and had thus become, to an extent, conventional signs. 
Some of these signs unquestionably possessed an arbitrary sig- 
nification, such as those which indicated numbers and the ele- 
ments. The numbers to twenty t were represented by dots or 
points, twenty by a flag, four hundred by a feather ; day, night, 
midnight, the year, the century, the heavens, air, earth and wa- 

* Denon, vol. ii. p. 147. 
t Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 103. Herod., ii. 113. 
X There is reason to suspect that the number ten was indicated 
by a straight line. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



377 



ter were all denoted by symbolical characters. The figures for 
the names of cities, and the astronomical representations of the 
names of the months were also real symbols, which suggested 
the sounds of those names, upon being seen. Indeed the usual 
picture-writing of the Mexicans resembles that found upon the 
clothing of the Egyptian mummies, and was of a mixed char- 
acter. But beyond all this, there are traces of real phonetic 
hieroglyphics in those signs which appear upon the monuments 
above the heads of the gods, which, like the Egyptian hiero- 
glyphics of the names of the gods, were enclosed in an oblong 
rectangle.* The characters in the Codex Mexicanus at Dres- 
den, suggest the existence of even a complete system of pho- 
netic hieroglyphics. There could be no doubt on this point, if 
there were not some reason to suppose that they have an astro- 
nomical signification ; but even in that case, they still present 
the appearance of real cursive characters ; for, upon analyzing 
the groups of figures, we find the same elements often repeated 
in different combinations. The state of our knowledge, how- 
ever, upon this subject, renders it impossible to decide this in- 
teresting question ; to arrive at a positive conclusion it needs 
that the picture-writings, now so extensively scattered over 
Europe, should be brought together and be carefully scrutinized 
and compared, that the monuments themselves should be exam- 
ined with direct reference to this inquiry ; and it is yet possible, 
with the means still remaining for acquiring a knowledge of 
the Aztec, Toltec, and Maya dialects, that these characters may 
be deciphered, and that a new flood of light may be shed upon 
the social and religious history of those nations. The monu- 

* Heeren's Res., vol. ii. p. 9. See an able article on Mexican 
Antiquities, in For. Q,r. Rev. 5 No. 35. 

48 



378 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



merits and paintings are loaded with symbolic figures, few of 
which have yet been interpreted ; and it is apparent they are 
explanatory of the actions, scenes, rites and ceremonies which 
they accompany. Whether they be real hieroglyphics or not 
is of comparatively little importance ; for it is clear they afford 
the only key to unlock the recondite meaning of these symbolic 
representations. 

The Mexican and Egyptian priests were recluses,* and lived 
in apartments within or adjoining the temples ; and those stone 
benches which have been observed at Palenque, and whereon 
it is supposed the priests were accustomed to sleep, are similar 
to the stone couches which appear in the apartments of the 
priests in the Egyptian temples. 

Many of the Toltec, Aztec and Maya sculptures are similar 
in style to the Egyptian. The calantica or veil upon the statue 
of an Aztec priestess, described by Humboldt, resembles some 
of the statuary head-dresses in Egypt,f and particularly those 
of Isis and Osiris : the artificial form of the fluted ear-tress is 
clearly Egyptian. The beautifully executed Caryatides at 
Uxmal with caps on their heads, the arms crossed, and some 
instrument in one hand, resemble the Egyptian Caryatides seen 
by Denon, and the figures observed by Richardson and Henni- 
ker al Karnac and Ebsambal, which like those of Osiris at the 
Memnonium have their arms crossed upon their breast, holding in 
one hand a tau,\ and in the other a flagellum.§ Mexican and 

* Bryant's Mythology, vol. iv. p. 278. 
f Researches, vol. i. p. 45. 

\ According to Waldeck, one of the figures in the "temple of the 
Serpents," at Uxmal, is represented with the tau on the breast.— 
Voyage Pittoresque, p. 104. 

§ Henniker, p. 160. Denon, vol. ii. p. 166. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



379 



Egyptian statuary accords in another particular; the human 
figure is seldom left free, but the back is generally attached to 
a mass of stone or imbedded in walls ; and where the stone is a 
single detached block, the back is often covered with hierogly- 
phics.* The Egyptians are sometimes represented as sitting 
cross-legged or crouchedf (in the Indian fashion), and this 
position is common in the Mexican figures; the principal god 
at Palenque is seated cross-legged upon a couch, with the head 
of a tiger rising from each end, similar to the tiger-shaped 
Egyptian couch. The Mexican sculptures appear to be fully 
equal to the Egyptian in elegance, execution, and precision of 
outline. Upon the monuments of both people are abundant indica- 
tions of that patient, untiring labor, which was essential to the 
accomplishment of minute precision in the execution of numerous 
hieroglyphical figures, and rich and complicated ornaments, 
most of which, from their religious character, were to be finished 
to the most scrupulous degree of exactness. t No scope was 
allowed to the genius of the artist ; the principal forms w r ere 
settled and prescribed, and his ingenuity, if not wholly repressedj 
was restricted to the invention of inferior ornaments, which, 
though they increased the richness of the sculpture, did not in- 
fringe upon their conventional rules. 

There is some similarity in the costume of the figures painted 
on the Egyptian monuments, to that of the Mexicans. The 
apron was in some respects alike ; in front was something re- 

* Egyptian Antiquities. Lib. Ent. Knowledge, vol. ii. pp. 7. 16. 

f Wilkinson, vol. i. pp. 191, 204. When bearing sacred emblems 
before the shrine of a deity, or desirous of showing respect to a su- 
perior, they generally sat upon their heels. 

% Denon, vol. hi. p. 7. 



380 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



sembling a streamer, descending from the girdle or the middle,* 
and behind often appears the representation of the tail of an 
animal; in other respects, however, the Mexican apron was 
peculiar. The Mexicanf figures frequently wear upon the 
breast a medal with the representation of a human head, and 
the same may be often observed in the Egyptian paintings and 
sculptures. In the paintings of both people may be perceived 
the figures of captives dragged along by the victor, by the hair, 
and dressed in skins."]; The Mexican paintings in the temples, 
like the Egyptian anaglyphs, are arranged in compartments or 
divisions,§ each of which seems to be complete of itself, and to 
have an allegorical or symbolic meaning ; and the colors ap- 
pear often to have been applied according to some conventional, 
rule. The human figures are not portraits, but are drawn after 
certain fixed forms; and though the statues are usually re- 
presented with the full face, the paintings are generally in 
outline or profile. 

Other points of similitude between the Egyptians and the 
nations of New Spain are indicated in the custom of tattooing; 
the use of masks by the priests in religious ceremonies ;|| the 
sacred character of the lotus ; the practice of shaving the head,1T 
or the tonsure, which though not usual in Mexico was common 

* Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 406. 

t Though the term Mexican has been employed forfthe sake of 
brevity, in the course of the argument, the comparison is intended to 
apply to all the cultivated nations comprised within the limits of the 
former kingdom of New Spain. 

% Egyptian Antiquities, vol. i. p. 394. Denon, vol. iii. p. 12. 
Burckhardt, pp. 109, 83. Belzoni, vol. i. p. 127. 

§ Drummond's Origines, vol. ii. p. 291. 

|| Heeren's Res., vol. ii. p. 296. H Herodotus, ii. 36 ; iii. 12. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



381 



in other parts of America ; the resemblance of the Mexican and 
ancient Egyptian flute, each having but four holes, and their 
use in sacred services ;* the similar methods of manufacturing- 
paper, in one case from the papyrus, and in the other from the 
agave; the religious use of mirrors ; the dramatic entertainments 
and buffooneries ; the religious dances in the temples ; the occa- 
sional employment of women in sacred offices; the existence of an 
Ophite worship ; the practice of sculpture painting ; the beads, 
necklaces, bracelets, anklets, the sandals, conical caps, head- 
dresses of feathers, with which the human figures are represented ; 
, the nearly identical form of the Mexican and Egyptian grana- 
ries ;f and in the Cyclopean arches, the obelisks, planispheres and 
pyramids. In opposition to all these analogies, however, there 
are great and striking differences in the arts, customs, institu- 
tions, and in architecture, which forbid the conclusion that the 
. American nations were of Egyptian origin. 

India. Passing from Egypt into a country whose civiliza- 
tion was of a kindred character, India, we discover still closer 
affinities in religion and institutions to those of the cultivated 
nations of America. In the Hindoo religion may be traced the 
same vestiges of a purer and higher belief in ancient times ; of 
its gradual modification under the doctrine of emanations, and 
under the personification of the productive and destroying 
powers of nature ; and its ultimate debasement into the most 
horrid superstitions. The clear and definite language in which 
the faith of the Hindoos in the existence of the Supreme Being 
is expressed in their works of authority, has been shown. J The 

* Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 364. f Ibid., vol. i. p. 135. 

I As in America the Creator was not worshipped. In all Hin- 
doostan but one temple has been erected to the true God, and that 
contains no idol. 



382 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



great and characterizing feature of Sabaism, — the worship of the 
Sun and moon and other heavenly bodies — next appears. At 
Benares there still remain several temples, upon the altars of 
which a perpetual fire is preserved like that maintained on the 
Mexican Teocalli, and in the temples of Vesta. The holiest 
text of the Vedas is addressed to the Sun : " Let us meditate on 
the adorable light of the Divine Ruler : may it guide our intel- 
lects." The Brahmins still pray to that luminary,* and it is 
often confounded, as an object of adoration, with the gods of the 
Trimurti, and even with the Supreme Soul. The worship of 
the stars, the moon, the signs of the zodiac, was and is equally 
prevalent ; and as the study of astronomy was confined to the 
priests, a most extensive system of astrology arose, so that even 
to this day the Astrologer is one of the regular public officers in 
the Hindoo towns ; and as in Mexico, not only are the fortunes 
of mortals decided by sidereal influences, but few important en- 
terprises are undertaken, without first consulting the aspect of 
those bodies. The worship of evil spirits, though now discoun- 
tenanced by the Brahmins, appears to have been one of the 
traits of the most ancient religion,! and even those priests, in 
cases of sickness, attempt to conciliate these malignant deities. 
In some portions of India the greater part of the inhabitants 
have no other worship, and, as with our aboriginal nations, 
" every house and each family has its own particular Bkuta, 
who stands for its tutelary god ; and to whom daily prayers, 
and propitiatory sacrifices are ofTered, not only to incline him to 
withhold his own machinations, but to defend them from the 
evils which the Bhutas of their neighbors or enemies might in- 

* Asiatic Res., vol. v. p. 354. Mill's India, vol. ii. pp. 145, 334. 
f Ward, vol.i.p. 73. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



383 



flict. In those parts, the image of the demon is everywhere 
seen represented in a hideous form, and often by a shapeless 
stone." Thus we find in India and America the same prominent 
features in the prevalent religion, but on examining the Hindoo 
mythology, there are more decided traces of connection. In 
Mexico, after the Supreme Being, the god Tezcatlipoca was the 
most venerated. His name signified " shining mirror," and his 
principal image was of a black shining stone — Teotletl — Divine 
stone. He was represented as black, and as sitting upon a 
bench covered with a red cloth, skulls, and the bones of the 
dead. As a general analogy has already been indicated between 
this deity and the Egyptian Typhon, so, on the other hand, he 
presents a not less striking resemblance to the Hindoo Siva, 
the representative of the destructive powers of the universe. 
Tezcatlipoca was always represented young, as being supe- 
rior to the effects of time, and Siva when worshipped as Maha 
Kala, or " Time, the Great Destroyer," is represented as " a 
smoke-colored youth, with three eyes, clothed in red garments, 
with a chaplet of human skulls about his neck,"* and Parvati 
or Kali his o-oddess is also figured with a black face, with a 
chaplet of skulls, and with a mirror in her hand. Black mar- 
ble was also the symbol of Siva, and is found under the form of 
the Lingam, or otherwise, in most of the Pagodas dedicated to 
him. The former prevalence of human sacrifices in Hindoostan 
is beyond question, and probably to no deities were these made 
more frequently than to Siva and Kali.f To the Mexican Tez- 

* Lib. Ent. Know., Hindoos, voL i. p. 16S. Mod. Trav. India, 
vol. viii. pp. 265, 266 ; vol. vi. p. 167. Mill's India, vol. i. p. 337. 

f Bombay Trans., vol. iii. pp. 86, 89. Heber, vol. ii. pp. 415, 
420; vol. iii. pp. 261, 264. 



384 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



catlipoca also, the same revolting sacrifices were offered, parti- 
cularly at the great festival in the month of May, when the 
head of the victim was strung up on the Tzompantli, with the 
rest of the skulls of victims. The Hindoos appear to have been 
divided for many ages into sects, each of which exhibited a 
preference for one of the Trimurti, Brahma, Vishnoo or Siva.* 
" This contention for pre-eminence ended in the (nearly) total 
suppression of the worship of Brahma, and the temporary sub- 
mission of Vishnoo to the superiority of Siva." The controversy 
was not merely a contest for an arbitrary preference, but in- 
volved a principle. Siva representing the destroying, and 
Vishnoo the preserving power of nature, the sacrifices to each 
were appropriate ; the one was conciliated only by blood, the 
other by offerings of fruits and flowers. Accordingly, in the 
ninth avatar or incarnation of Vishnoo, he came as the Reformer, 
Buddha, proscribing the sacrifice of animals ; and a fierce con- 
test ensued between the two sects, which finally ended in the 
triumph of that of Siva. A parallel is afforded in that part of the 
Mexican mythology under consideration. Quetzalcoatl was a 
benevolent being, averse to cruelty, and to any other sacred of- 
ferings than the vegetable productions of the earth. The rites 
attending the worship of Tezcatlipoca were inhuman and 
bloody, and a further proof of his attributes is afforded in his 
intimate connection with Mexitli, the Mexican god of war, 
to whom were offered more human victims than to any other of 
the gods : indeed the great Teocalli of Mexico was dedicated 
to Tezcatlipoca and Mexitli in conjunction. This explains the 

* Asiatic Res., vol. viii. p. 45, 46. Mod. Trav. India, vol. viii. p- 
305. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



385 



ceremony usual at the third and principal festival of Mexitli. 
At its conclusion his statue, formed of seeds pasted together with 
the blood of children, was carried to a hall in the temple, where 
in the presence only of a few persons of rank, the priest called 
Quetzalcoatl threw a dart at the statue, which pierced it, and 
they then exclaimed, the god was dead. The opposition be- 
tween the two deities could not be more clearly expressed ; and 
this ceremony was probably commemorative of a period when 
the mild and peaceful triumphed over the sanguinary worship. A 
subsequent revolution seems to have occurred, at least among 
the Aztecs, and accordingly, Tezcatlipoca, the Destroyer, pro- 
cures by a stratagem the absence of the benign Quetzalcoatl. 
It is to be observed that in Peru, also, the human sacrifices 
which were customary in the first ages, were forbidden by the 
Incas. The Muyscas represented Bochica with three heads ; Del 
Rio found in the corridor of a building at Palenque three 
crowned human heads cut in stone, connected together behind ; 
the Triune vessel discovered in one of the mounds in the United 
States, represents three human heads joined together in the same 
manner. These facts tend to support the authority of those 
Spanish historians, so flatly contradicted by Vega and Bias 
Valera, who maintained that the Peruvians and the nations of 
New Spain worshipped a Triune deity. They may be consi- 
dered as establishing another link of connection with Hindoostan, 
where Brahma, Vishnoo and Siva, forming what is called the 
Trimurti, or the three powers, the Creative, Preserving and 
Destroying, are sometimes represented as of one body with 
three heads. 

The Mexican Tlaloc was the god of water, and it has 

* Del Rio, p. 56. 
49 



386 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

been shown that this element was considered as of a sacred 
character by the Mexicans, Peruvians, and the ancient inhabit- 
ants of the United States. Its sanctity in India is well known ; 
but one custom recently existing is remarkable as being similar 
to that which was practised by the Mexicans and Etrurians. 
It consisted in the sacrifice, annually, of a youth and maiden 
richly dressed, by drowning them in their sacred river.* To 
the lakes of Titicaca and Guativita in South America, it was 
customary for the natives to make pilgrimages, and in the latter, 
offerings of great value were thrown. These were strictly ana- 
logous to the Hindoo pilgrimages to their sacred streams. In 
the Hindoo temples are tanks of water, surrounded by colon- 
nades and steps, whither the pilgrims descended to employ 
themselves in ablutions and religious contemplations-! Tanks 
precisely similar may be observed in the ruins of Zacatecas in 
Mexico. The lotus, which it has been remarked, was sacred in 
Egypt and America, was also a religious emblem in India, Thibet 
and China.! 

The belief in the transmigration of souls was common to 
some of the American and to the Hindoo nations ; animal wor- 
ship was probably connected with it. This superstition prevailed 
in Peru, before the time of the Incas ; and its existence in New 
Spain is proved by the representations in the sculptures and 
paintings. In these the serpent occupies a prominent place, 
and whatever may have been its original signification, there can 
be no doubt of the prevalence of an Ophite worship. The Mex- 
icans erected chapels to the tiger, the eagle and the serpent. 

* Mod. Trav. India, vol. vii. p. 59. 
t Heeren's Res., vol. iii. p. 81. 
% Asiatic Tracts, vol. i. p. 34. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



387 



In 1791, a tomb containing the skeleton of a wolf was discov- 
ered in the city of Mexico ; the bones were carefully deposited 
in a stone coffin, together with clay vases and metallic vessels.* 
And it would appear that other sepulchres have been opened, 
containing the skeletons of the mammoth or of some other large 
animal, which appeared to have been expressly fitted for their 
reception.f In the different provinces of Peru, and also at 
Cuzco there were large collections of animals, the different 
species of which were kept separate, and which were attended 
to with the greatest care.J In the city of Mexico were two 
large houses appropriated as the habitations of animals, one for 
those who did not live by prey, and the other for birds of prey, 
quadrupeds, and reptiles. It is common to find in India hospi- 
tals, where many animals of various kinds are collected. In 
the city of Surat there is one for the sick, wounded, and maim- 
ed animals, divided into parts for different species, which are all 
attended with the greatest care. It will be remembered that 
Surat is one of the most ancient cities in Hindoostan. Ma- 
thura, celebrated as the birth-place of Krishna, has a hospital for 
monkeys. — The city of Ahnedabad formerly contained three 
several hospitals; there is another at Baruach, containing not 
only sacred animals, but cats, dogs and horses. The Mongols 
appear to have had similar collections.^ 

The Mexicans, Peruvians, Chinese, and Hindoos, all pos- 
sessed a taste for dramatic entertainments ; these were often of 

* Hum. Res., vol. ii. p. 48. 

t Clavigero, vol. i. p. 84. This author considers them to be the 
bones of giants. 

X Vega, vol. i. p. 235. 

§ Maundeville, ch. 22. Marco Polo, ch. 56. 



388 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



a poetical cast, though sometimes they consisted of mere buf- 
foonery. The manners and customs of social life in Hindoostan, 
Mexico and Peru, partook of a religious character. Nothing 
of consequence could be done without the intervention of the 
priests. They were present at births, marriages, and funerals ; 
the most trifling affairs were transacted according to certain 
religious forms, and the national mind seems to have been com- 
pletely subjected in private, as well as in public matters, to the 
domination of the sacred orders. The monarchs were despots, 
religion combined with power to render their sway absolute, 
and they were almost worshipped as demi-gods. In Mexico 
and Peru the Emperor was the great proprietor of the soil, and 
it was necessary every year for the landholders to have their 
titles renewed by a particular form of investiture. But for im- 
portant services, an exception was made, and allodial estates, 
with a power of alienation, w 7 ere granted. The general rule 
and particular exception just noticed prevailed also in India. 
In both countries, the rents and taxes were received in kind, 
even down to the productions of the artisans.* 

Among many American tribes, a peculiar method of regu- 
lating lineal descent existed. It consisted in tracing the line 
through the mother. A mode precisely similar prevails through 
the whole southern part of Hindoostan. Other analogous cus- 
toms may be traced between the Americans and Hindoos ; but 
a coincidence in the form of the marriage ceremonies is too 
singular to be omitted. — The matrimonial contract in Mexicof 
chiefly consisted in the priest's tying a point of the gown of the 

* Mill's India, vol. i. p. 261. Clavig., vol. i. p. 348. 
t Clavigero, vol. i. p. 321. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



389 



bride, with the mantle of the bridegroom. The wife then 
passed several times around a fire, which was kindled, and sat 
down on a mat with her husband, and offered copal to the gods. 
The married pair then lived austerely, slept on mats, and re- 
mained the three succeeding days in the same chamber. In 
India " the father of the bride ties a knot with the skirts of the 
mantles of the bridegroom and bride, saying 6 ye must be insep- 
arably united in matters of duty, wealth, and love.' " This and 
some other ceremonies being performed, " the bride goes to the 
western side of the fire, and recites a prayer while she steps on 
a mat made of virana grass, and covered with silk. She then 
sits down on the edge of the mat, and the bridegroom makes 
six oblations of clarified butter, reciting a prayer with each." 
" During the three subsequent days, the married couple must 
remain in the house of the father of the bride, and must live 
chastely and austerely, sleeping on the ground."* 

Within the mounds of the United States, and those of Peru, 
numerous marine shells have been found, deposited with the 
dead ; and in Mexico there was a " temple of shells." Several 
of the Murex, discovered in an ancient work near Lexington, 
Kentucky, are of the same species as is sacred to the Hindoo 
Neptune, Mahadeva. But more singular still, some of those 
disinterred from the mounds are of a kind unknown on the 
shores of this continent; of the Pyrula perversa, none have 
been found here except those of a very inferior size, while two 
very large ones have been taken from the ancient remains. 
They abound, however, in Hindoostan, where they are used in 
religious ceremonies. The Cassis Cornutus of the Cincinnati 



* Mill. vol. i. p. 446. 



390 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



tumulus is an Asiatic shell also.* In Chin-India, the Budd- 
hists also employ shells for religious purposes (particularly the 
conch, and left-handed shells), and upon the most solemn occa- 
sions, when they are filled with holy water. In India the shell 
is sacred to the Moon, and the shell, the ring and the lotus are 
the insignia of the gods.f 

The ancient Hindoo cities, as they are described in the Gen- 
too Code, were similar in form to some of the ancient enclo- 
sures of the United States ; and they were surrounded by ditches 
or earthen embankments, with a covered way proceeding from 
one of the sides. One of the methods of fortification, is identical 
in character, with that of one of the fortifications in Florida. It 
consists of a wide ditch around the town, certain intervals be- 
ing left unexcavated as causeways or entrances.^ 

" Let not the piety of the Catholic Christian/' says the Rev. 
Mr. Maurice, "be offended at the preceding assertion, that the 
cross was one of the most usual symbols among the hieroglyphics 
of Egypt and India* Equally honored in the Gentile and Chris- 
tian world, this emblem of universal nature, of that world to 
whose four quarters its diverging radii pointed, decorated the 
hands of most of the sculptured images in the former country, 
and in the latter, stamped its form upon the most majestic of 
the shrines of their deities. "§ The early Christian fathers were 
aware of the sanctity of this emblem among pagan nations, and 
archaeological researches have also shown most clearly its anti- 

* Delafield's Inquiry, p. 62. Nuttall, p. 22. Crawford's Siam, 
voL.i. p. 277. 

f Asiatic Tracts, vol. i. p. 45. 

$ Gentoo Code, c. 14. Mill's India, vol. i. p. 181. Dubois, p. 543. 
§ Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 361. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



391 



quity and sacred character. It not only appears upon many 
of the ancient Celtic monuments of the British Isles, but some 
of the Celtic or Druidical temples were built in this form. This 
is the case with the great temple at Classerniss, in one of the 
islands of the Hebrides, and with the gallery and cemetery be- 
neath the mound at New Grange in Ireland.* 

In Italy the staff of the Roman Augurs was surmounted by 
a cross, and the cross appears upon one of the bas reliefs at 
Pompeii in connection with ancient symbols, and the figures of 
heathen gods. Venus is represented by a crossf and circle, and 
Saturn, with a cross and horn. A silver medal found at Citium, 
in Cyprus, which appears to have been older than the foundation 
of the Macedonian empire, exhibits on one side, within an in- 
dented square, a rosary or circle of beads to which a cross is 
attached.! a Of these rosaries, and this appendage, as symbols 
(explained by converted heathens at the destruction of the temple 
of Serapis"), says Dr. Clarke, " having in a former publication 
been explicit, it is not now necessary to expatiate. That the 
soul's immortality was alluded to, is a fact capable of the 
strictest demonstration." In Egypt, the crosier of Osiris is sur- 
mounted by the cross, or the sacred tan, and the dux ansata is 
a common symbol in the hands of sacred figures. Some of the 

* O'Brien on the round towers of Ireland, passim. Higgins' 
Celtic Druids, p. 57, and authorities there quoted. Davies' Celtic 
Researches, p. 143. 

t Landseer, p. 360. 

t Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. p. ISO. Pococke, vol. ii. p. 213. At 
the destruction of the temple of Serapis, at Alexandria, alluded to by 
Dr. Clarke, the same symbols Tvere discovered beneath the founda- 
tion. 



392 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



human figures p ainted upon the walls of one of the tombs at 
Thebes, opened by Belzoni, are tattooed on their thighs and arms 
with the form of the cross.* And that the first Christians were 
aware of the sanctity of this emblem with the Egyptians, appears 
from one of the excavations near Edfou, on the west bank of the 
Nile. The figure of the cross is there seen painted on a wall with 
the inscription over it. — " The Cross of the Christians. -; Sir Ar- 
chibald Edmonstone, who observed it also in some buildings of 
unburnt brick in the Thebaic Oasis, remarks, " In all we entered, 
there is the Greek cross, and the celebrated Egyptian hiero- 
glyphic, the Crux ansata, which, originally signifying life, 
would appear to have been adopted as a Christian emblem, 
either from its similarity to the shape of the cross, or from its 
being considered as the symbol of a state of future existence."! 
Mr. Richardson, speaking of the handled cross of Osiris, ob- 
serves : " I am disposed to consider it as the Sigma Thau men- 
tioned in the Vulgate, in the ninth chapter of Ezekiel, and re- 
presented there as being the sign of life and salvation to those 
who received it.'"' 

In Hindoostan and those parts of Asia, whose religious sys- 
tems have been thence derived, the cross is of high antiquity 
and of a sacred character. One of the principal caves of Ele- 
phanta is excavated precisely upon this plan : it is also recog- 
nised over the heads of some of the sculptures within ; and the 
pagodas of Benares and Mathura are built after the same form.l 
The Hindoos frequently wear the cross appended to a rosary, 
and the rosaries are doubtless of very ancient use in Oriental 

* Richardson, vol. ii. p. 75. j Edmonstone ; s Journey, p. 109. 
i Maurice's Ind. Antiq.. vol. ii. p. 361. Mod. Trav. India, vol. 
viii. p. 267. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



393 



Asia. Brahma is often represented as holding one in his hands; 
the devotions of the ascetics are still made, by telling their 
beads; and the rosary is to be observed even in Thibet and 
China.* The same symbol is recognised as sacred by the Mon- 
gols : "It is remarkable that the high priest of the Tartars 
bears the name of Lama, which in the Tartar language, sig- 
nifies the cross, and the Tartars of Bogdo, who conquered China 
in 1644, and who are subject to the Delae-Lama in all matters 
of religion, carry with them crosses, which they also call La- 
mas."! It appears also to have been known in some of the 
islands of the Pacific, for the inhabitants of the Gambier islands 
tattooed themselves with the figure of the cross ; and when Lord 
Mulgrave's island was discovered, the natives wore necklaces 
with crosses suspended. t Upon the breast of a skeleton disin- 
terred from one of the ancient mounds in the United States, 
were found a copper cross and necklace of beads. Cordova 
and Grijalva in their first voyages to Yucatan, observed large 
crosses of stone and wood, some of them painted, which were 
worshipped by the Indians. The Itzaexes, a Yucantanese na- 
tion, had a most singular method of punishment. They enclosed 
the victim in a metallic cross, which was heated until he had 
expired. § Upon examining the monuments, we find that the 
subterranean apartments of the temple, or palace of Mitlan, 
are cruciform, like the cave at Elephanta. The cross appears 
in the sculptures at Uxmal, and one of the human figures is 
evidently telling his beads. The windows at Palenque are 



* Ward, pp. 40, 45, 422 ; 427. 

t Voyage de la Chine, par Avri!. p. 194. in Higgins. p. 312. 
X Mavor, vol. ix. p. 159. Beechey's Nar., p. 126. 
§ Waldeck, p. 24. See Herod.. 4. 42. 43. 

50 



394 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



in the same shape ; it appears frequently in the paintings at 
that place, and one of the most remarkable religious repre- 
sentations on its walls is a large and richly ornamented cross ? 
placed upon a pedestal, and surmounted by a sacred bird, before 
which priests are making their adorations. sV " The crosses the 
most celebrated," says Clavigero, " are those of Yucatan, of 
Mizteca, Queretaro, Tepique, and Tianquiztepec." These 
curious relics did not escape the attention of the Spanish mission- 
aries, but they ascribed them to St. Thomas. That they were 
not of recent introduction appears from their connection with 
the oldest religious fables. The garments of Quetzalcoatl were 
covered with red crosses, and the Yucatanese worshipped the 
cross in obedience to the commands of their great prophet Chi- 
lam-Cambal.* The sign of the cross had been for many ages 
venerated by the Peruvians. A cross was placed on the sum- 
mit of the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, and within a sacred 
mansion in the same city there was one composed of fine mar- 
ble. Although it was not worshipped, says Vega, it was still held 
in great veneration.f The Patagonians tattoo their foreheads 
with the figure of the cross, and it has been thought by recent 
travellers that the employment of this particular form was de- 
rived from the Spaniards,! but this conjecture is erroneous. One 
of the best of authorities, Martin Dobrizhoffer, says, " what these 
signify and what they portend I cannot tell, and the Abipones 
themselves are no better informed on the subject. They only 
know that this custom was handed down to them from their 
ancestors, and that is sufficient." He adds, " I saw not only a 



* Clavigero, vol. i. p. 250. 

t Vega, vol. i. p. 63 ; vol. ii. pp. 467, 468. 

\ King and Fitzroy, vol. i. p. 90. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



395 



cross marked on the foreheads of all the Abipones, but likewise 
black crosses woven in the red woollen garments of many. It 
is a very surprising circumstance that they did this before they 
were acquainted with the religion of Christ, when the significa- 
tion and merits of the cross were unknown to them."* Thus 
it appears that the ancient use of this sacred symbol may be 
traced from India, on the one hand into Egypt and the Druidi- 
cal countries, and on the other into America, and in every case 
it seems to have possessed a religious signification or character. 

At Barkal in Egypt there is the figure of a foot sculptured 
in black granite. Herodotus in his description of Scythia speaks 
of" an impression which they show of the foot of Hercules (the 
Sun). This is upon a rock," he says, " two cubits in size, but 
resembling the footstep of a man; it is near the river Tyras."f 
Upon the summit of Adam's Peak, in the island of Ceylon, is 
the impression of a foot, said to be that of Buddha when he 
first landed on the island ; this is held in the highest veneration 
by the natives. At many places in Ava are impressions of 
Gaudma's or Buddha's foot upon flat rocks, which are believed 
to have been made by that god, at his descent upon the earth.J 
The Siamese are accustomed to make pilgrimages to those 
sacred places where the alleged footmarks of Gaudma (Prah- 
bat — "the holy foot") are found. § The votaries of Rama in 
India impress upon different parts of their body the figure of 
Rama's foot ;|| and in the Puranas, Sravanna is described as 
" on the white mountains meditating upon the traces of the 



* DobrizhofFer, vol. ii.p. 20. f Melpomene, c. 82, 

X Symmes' Embassy, p. 240. § Crawfurd's Siam, p. 79. 

[| Mod. Trav. India, vol. vii. p. 317. 



396 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



divine feet." It will be remembered that one of the signs of 
the Hindoo lunar zodiac, the Nacshatras, or Houses of the 
Moon, is termed the Sravanna, and represents the three prints 
of the feet of Vishnoo.* Buddha was one of the incarnations 
of Vishnoo, and Vishnoo was identical with the Sun. But the 
zodiacal sign Sravanna is the same as the Mexican sign Olin 
Tonatiuh, or motion of the Sun, which was also denoted by the 
prints of three feet. : thus the coincidence between the Hindoo 
and Mexican signs is complete. But this ancient myth was of 
still wider prevalence in America. Payzome, the Buddha of 
Brazil, when he departed left his footsteps imprinted upon the 
shore ; in Chile we find the figures of human feet engraven upon 
the rocks ; at St. Louis in the United States was a tabular mass 
of limestone with the same impressions ; they have been re- 
cently discovered at Zacatecas in Mexico among the ancient 
ruins, and Clavigero says they have been frequently observed 
throughout that country .f 

In conclusion, the Mexicans, Peruvians, and Hindoos, of- 
fered sacred cakes of flour to their deities ; the feats of Mexican 
jugglery were equally surprising as those still practised in 
India ; masks were worn by the priests in Egypt, America, and 
India, in their religious ceremonies ; the mask or figure of the 
Sun on the monuments and paintings of New Spain, is almost 
identical in appearance with the Hindoo Kala, time, " who 
swallows the world, opening a fiery mouth, exhibiting a row of 
dreadful teeth, and protruding an enormous tongue the posi- 
tion and figures of the American idols, are often similar to those 

* Vide page 324. 

f The Spaniards ascribed these to St. Thomas. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



397 



of the Hindoos ; and the Hindoo artificial lakes approached by 
avenues of trees resemble those the remains of which have been 
observed here. The custom of shaving the head with the ex- 
ception of a single lock ; that of tattooing, which has not yet 
been wholly abandoned in India ; the appearance of hierogly- 
phic and emblematic sculptures and paintings in the Hindoo 
temples and caves ; the stone benches or couches in the dormi- 
tories of the temples ; the conical caps of the figures on the 
walls of Elephanta ; the frequent position of the Hindoo tem- 
ples upon elevated terraces ; some traces of the institution of 
castes in America ; and the general resemblance of their reli- 
gious belief, ceremonies, superstitions and traditions, present 
many decided analogies, which despite numerous points of differ- 
ence in other respects, tend to indicate the ancient connection 
of the American nations with South-Eastern Asia.* 

The Mongols. Siberian Asia is occupied by two great races, 
the Tartars and Mongols ; the principal territory of the Mongols 
lies to the north, and that of the Tartars to the south of the Sir 

* Waldeck, p. 19. Heeren, vol. iii. p. 81. Mod. Trav. India, 
vol. viii. pp. 267, 364, 175. Carli, Lettres sur L'Amerique, lett. 13. 

One of the Hindoo traditions resembles that in which Bochica 
figures, among the Muyscas. According to the Hindoo tradition, 
the valley of Cashmere was formerly a large lake. Casyapa, a grand- 
son of Brahma, drained its waters by opening a passage through the 
mountains near Baramauleh, through which the waters escaped. He 
then peopled the restored territory with the assistance of the gods. 
See Asiatic Res., vol. vi. p. 455. " The Piragua now used at Chiloe, 
and by the savages of the Chonos Archipelago, exactly resem- 
bles, in every minute detail, the Maseulah boat of Madras."— 
King and Fitzroy, note, vol. ii. p. 648. 



398 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



or Sihon.* Though at present composed mostly of nomadic 
and barbarous tribes, the Mongols seem to have been in 
ancient times far more civilized ; and nations of the same family 
now occupy the vast region extending along the ocean from 
India to the highest northern latitudes. The ancient Scythians 
appear to have been a branch of the same race. There are 
yet to be found in Siberia indications that these rude tribes 
were formerly more cultivated than at present. It is said that 
the Tartar and Mongol writings extant are of a date long sub- 
sequent to the time of Mohammed, and that none of these 
nations had formerly any written memorials/)- Be this as it 
may, in many parts of Siberia there are characters and figures 
engraven or painted upon stones and rocks, some of which ap- 
pear to be in the nature of letters, and others hieroglyphical 
emblems, and the figures of animals ; they are usually painted 
red. Some of these remind us of the ancient inscriptions in 
America, for they are cut upon the face of perpendicular rocks 
on the banks of rivers, at great heights which appear inaccessi- 
ble. Others according to'Kircher, as referred to by Strahlen- 
burgh, resemble the ancient Chinese characters. The same 
author describes ancient idols and obelisks, cut out of large 
blocks of stone, from seven to nine feet high, with hieroglyphic 
figures sculptured on their hacks. His description of the tumuli 
should be quoted in his own words. " Vast numbers are found 
in Siberia, and in the deserts which border on that government 

* Heeren's Res., vol. i. p. 11. Bell's Journey, p. 464. Tooke's 
View, vol. ii. p. 35. 

y Asiatic Tracts, vol. i. pp. 149, 155. The Mongolian manuscripts 
are written on a thick paper, covered with a colored varnish. They 
are found in the tombs and temples. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



399 



southwards. In these tombs are found all sorts of vessels, urns, 
wearing-apparel, ornaments and trinkets, cimeters, daggers, 
horse-trappings, knives, all sorts of little idols, medals of gold 
and silver, chess-boards and chess-men of gold, as also large 
golden plates, on which the dead bodies have been laid.* The 
graves of the poorer class have likewise such things in them, of 
copper and brass, arrows of copper and iron, stirrups, large and 
small polished plates of metal, or mirrors, with characters upon 
them; earthen urns of different sizes, some almost two feet 
high, others more, some with and some without handles. * * 
* As to the graves themselves, they are of different structures, 
some are only raised up of earth, as high as houses, and placed 
so near together and in such numbers on the spacious plains, 
that at a distance they appear like a ridge of hills. Others are 
set round with rough hewn stones, and some with square free 
stones, and are either of an oblong or a triangular form. In 
some places these tombs are entirely built of stone. Hence we 
find in the ancient maps of Tartary the greater, a number of 
pyramids, with these words, in Latin, the pyramidal sepulchres 
of the Tartarian kings, by which they must needs mean their 
monuments, though they are not so properly pyramids." Traces 
also of mural remains similar to those of the United States exist 
in some parts of this region. f 

Shamanism, the religion of the Mongols, is based on the 
same idea as, and is similar in its developments to, those ancient 

* The mines of silver and gold were worked by the ancient in- 
habitants. 

t Strahlenburgh, pp. 364, 324, 429, et seq. Hist. Kamtschatka, p. 
16. Malte Bran, book 38. 



400 RESEARCHES IXTO THE ORIGIN' AND 

cults which have been considered. The existence of the Su- 
preme Being is recognised by some of the Siberian tribes, and 
the Yakuts " worship the invisible God " under three different 
names, which are called Samans, sacred.* Traces of the Hin- 
doo Trimurti are also discernible in one of the Calmuck idols 
which is figured with three heads. The worship of the hea- 
venly bodiesf and of fire! is also prevalent, and particularly 
among the Tons;oos. or Tungusi. The belief in the transmi- 
gration of souls, the veneration for animals, polytheism, and 
magical practices are all prominent features of Shamanism. 
Its leading and characteristic trait, however, consists in the class 
of priests, who are sorcerers pretending to a communion with 
evil spirits, and of whom it may be most emphatically said, that 
they are precisely identical with the conjurors or jugglers of the 
American aborigines. § 

The Nomadic tribes of Siberia, like most of the barbarous 
Indian tribes, are probably the descendants of more civilized an- 
cestors, and it is curious to perceive how, under the operation 

* One of the titles of this deity. Tanga-ra, resembles that by 
which the triune god. said to have been worshipped in Peru, was 
known, Tanga-Tanga. — Vega. vol. i. p. 70. 

t Sauers Expedition, vol. i. p. 116. 

i The Scythians worshipped fire. — Herod.. 1. iv. c. 59. 

§ Herodotus. 1. iv. c. 69. mentions the art of divination as prevail- 
ing among the Scythians. The Shamans are also prophets and 
physicians, and cure diseases by supernatural means. The prepara- 
tory ceremonies for obtaining an interview with the evil spirits, and 
their feats of jugglery, are the same as those of the Indian sorcerers. 
They carry with them little images or amulets, which represent the 
forms in which these deities appear. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



401 



of similar circumstances, these two degraded branches of the 
same great race have still preserved a striking resemblance in 
their customs and character. Of those Siberian tribes engaged 
in venatorial pursuits, it may be asserted, that by the common 
consent of travellers, no people exists more alike in every re- 
spect to the aborigines. For the purpose of a brief compari- 
son, one tribe may be selected. 

The Tungusi,* a very ancient nation, who say their ances- 
tors were the first inhabitants of Siberia, roam over the greater 
part of that region. Like the Indians, they are subject to few 
diseases, and possess the senses of sight and hearing to an incred- 
ible degree of perfection.! They are faithful, honest, and hospita- 
ble, mindful of kindness and injuries, proud, and tenacious of their 
personal dignity. Dances are customary among them, and the 
most favorite of their social pleasures are songs, and fanciful 
tales of an Oriental character, resembling those of the Algon- 
quin nations. Remarkable for the faculty of remembering nat- 
ural objects, and localities, they retain, with the most accurate 
fidelity, the recollection of every rock and tree in their hunting 
grounds, can describe a road distinctly by these landmarks, and 
trace their way hundreds of miles over a pathless country with- 
out hesitation. They are brave and robust, hunt with the bow 
and arrow, are excellent archers, and follow the game by the 
trail, or impression left on the earth, as well as if the animal 
w T ere bounding in full view. The women perform the chief 
burden of domestic and predial labor, while the ruder sex en- 
gage in the hardships of the chase. Enduring of cold, fatigue, 
and privations, many days are frequently passed by them with- 

* Strahlenburgh, p. 451. Tooke, vol. ii. p. 99. 
t Cochrane, pp. 140, 166. 

51 



402 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



out food, and when fortunately game has been killed, they feast 
in an extravagant, wasteful, and voracious manner, without 
thought of the future,* and never leaving the spot till all is 
consumed. Polygamy is allowed, and wives are purchased by 
presents to the parents. They clear the soil for the reception 
of grain, by girdling the trees, and annually, in the autumn, 
burn the grass upon the steppes or prairies.f The boundaries 
of their hunting grounds are marked out, and any aggressions 
beyond them resented by force. The dead are not buried, but 
suspended from trees in boxes, or placed upon scaffolds.J Their 
bodies are tattooed with much taste and skill, — the moccasin 
and wampum are used in their dress, — the latter being employed 
for decoration, as is often the case among the Indians.§ They 
are fond of smoking, and whilst so employed, pass the pipe 
around like the American calumet. In all these particulars, 
resembling closely the Indian, it is impossible to point out any 
nation, so exactly the counterpart of the Americans. 

A few analogous customs may also be indicated. The 
Indian custom of shaving the head, with the exception of a 
single ringlet upon the crown, is of very general use among the 
Mongols. It is probably as ancient as the time of Herodotus, 
who describes it accurately, as it was practised by the royal 
Scythians. The same historian details the often quoted descrip- 
tion of Scythian scalping in these words : " Their mode of strip- 
ping the skin from the head is this. They make a circular in- 
cision behind the ears, then taking hold of the head at the top, 



* Cochrane, p. 155. 

f Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 238. 

X Sauer, p. 49. 

§ Loskiel, pp. 48, 49. Ledyard, pp. 246, 251. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



403 



they gradually flay it, drawing it towards them. They next 
soften it in their hands, removing every fleshy part which may 
remain, by rubbing it with an ox's hide ; they afterwards sus- 
pend it thus prepared from the bridles of their horses, w T hen 
they both use it as a napkin, and are proud of it as a trophy. 
Whoever possesses the greater number of these, is deemed the 
most illustrious."* A little image found among the Calmucks, 
establishes the fidelity of this description : it represents a man 
mounted on a horse, and sitting upon a human skin, with scalps 
pendant from his breast.f The same author states that upon 
the interment of a Scythian chief many of his retainers were 
slaughtered at his tomb, which was the case also with the 
Natchez and other American nations, and with the Mongols. J 
The Siberian and Chinese dog is of the same species as the 
American; in America the dog was domesticated even with 
the remote Fuegian tribes. An analogy has been indicated be- 
tween the ideas of the Egyptians as emblemized in the figure 
of Anubis, and those of the Mexicans in relation to the techichi; 
but the same superstitions were of much wider extent. Dogs 
were venerated in Egypt, and their death was lamented as a 
misfortune. According to Bryant, the Egyptians represented 
under the figure of a dog all such as had the management of 
funerals. Traces of the same idea, says Dr. Clarke, appear in 
the stele upon some of the ancient tumuli, which were sculptured 
with the figure of this animal, as a type of the Egyptian god 
who had the care of the dead. The dog was anciently held in 
great reverence by the Hindoos, and was sacred to Kala-Bha- 
irava; the practice still prevails of employing this animal to 



* Lib. iv. c. 64. f Pennant, vol. i. p. 260. 

t Barrow, p. 483. Strahlenbmrgh, p. 30. 



404 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



watch by the dead, from the belief that he perceives evil spirits, 
and terrifies them by his howling ; for the same reason he is 
placed by the couch of the dying. With the Siberian and 
American tribes he was selected for a similar purpose, and was 
sacrificed also in cases of sickness and death. Besides the 
Mexicans, many other aboriginal nations were accustomed to 
kill these animals at the celebration of the funeral rites ; this 
may be observed even of the distant tribes of South America.* 
The Indians, says Mr. Andrews, are generally accompanied by 
a black dog ; this animal " is his master's friend through life, 
and the destined pilot of his voyage to the promised Elysium 
hereafter. To arrive at this happy land rivers are to be crossed, 
and the dog is to convey over his master's provisions, a store of 
which is always inhumed upon his decease."! The Indians of 
Canada, according to Charlevoix, during the last sickness of a 
chief, were accustomed to " cut the throats of all the dogs they 
can catch, that the souls of these animals may go into the other 
world, and give notice that such a person will arrive there 
soon."J 

The Siberians and Americans are both extravagantly ad- 
dicted to the use of the vapor bath.§ In health it is a favorite 
enjoyment, and in sickness a usual remedy for all diseases. 
The Mongols, like the Indian, never hesitate whilst suffused with 

* King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 167. Davis' China, vol. ii. p. 310. 
Tooke, vol. iii. p. 223. Sauer. Nuttall's Arkansas, p. 96. Mod. Trav. 
India, vol. viii. p. 253. Penn, p. 120. Ward, vol. i. p. 264. Wilkin- 
son, vol. ii. p. 33. Herod., 1. ii. c. 66. Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. p. 
131. 

| Anderson's Travels in S. Am., vol. ii. p. 75. 

X Voyage, vol. ii. p. 141. § Sauer, p. 177. Make Brun. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



405 



perspiration to rush from these baths and plunge headlong into 
the coldest streams. They were employed also by the Mexi- 
cans, and the same method of producing the vapor by throwing 
water upon heated stones was universally practised.* A few 
additional particulars may be mentioned : the Yourte or Mon- 
gol hut resembles the American wigwam ;f the constellation of 
the Great Bear is known by the same name with the Indians 
and the Siberians ;J they agree in calling the Aurora Borealis, 
" the dance of the dead," or " dancing spirits in using masks 
in religious ceremonies ;§ and in the methods of interment, either 
placing the dead upon scaffolds like some of the western 
aborigines, or burying them in a sitting posture, or burning 
them. The peculiar form of the plumes of the head-dresses, 
the use of leggins, and the employment of the wampum as an 
ornament for their garments, assimilate the costumes of both 
people.|| White is a sacred color; the same method of storing 
corn in magazines in the ground is used ; there are some traces 
of the institution of the totem in Siberia ; for the purpose of 
procuring fire, they sometimes use an instrument consisting of 
a cylindrical piece of wood which is inserted in the hole of a 
circular disk and rapidly turned ; this is to be found also in 

* Herodotus describes a similar bath in use among the Scythians, 
1. iv. c. 75. 

f Ledyard, 241. Sauer, 130. 

| The bear is venerated by both races ; and after having killed 
one in the chase, it is usual to celebrate the event by an expiatory 
feast, during which songs are addressed to his manes, descriptive of 
his praises. Malte Bran. Charlevoix, vol. ii. p. 56. 

§ Pennant, vol. i. p. 238. Bartram's Travels, p. 43. 

II Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Quebec, vol. i. p. 240. 



406 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



America, and even so far south as Chile.* And finally both 
people practise the custom of tattooing.f 

The Chinese. So many of these traits and customs are 
common to the Chinese and Indo-Chinese, that it becomes un- 
necessary to dwell at length upon the resemblance to be ob- 
served between those nations and the Americans. The Brah- 
mins maintain that the Chinese are a mixed race, and that at 
some ancient period, an emigration proceeded into that coun- 
try from Hindoostan ; it seems, therefore, that they are to be 
regarded as the descendants of Hindoos and Mongols — one of 
the circumstances which may serve to account for the striking 
resemblance in the features of their religion, and many of their 
institutions, to those of the Hindoos and Mongols.J 

Not only were symbolical paintings and w T ritings of ancient 
use in China,§ but it appears also, that the method of recording 
events by knotted cords, the qirippos of the Peruvians, the wam- 
pum of the Indians, was likewise known.|| It is said, that 
" among some Tartar tribes, it is customary to enregister re- 
markable events by knotted cords, or by stringing beads on 
cords."H To these facts, may be added the testimony of Led- 
yard, who says " the wampum so universally in use among the 
Tartars, apparently as an ornament, I cannot but suspect is used 

* Molina, vol. ii. p. 167. 

f The Scythians tattooed, according to Pomponious Mela as 
quoted by Lafitau. 

% Asiatic Tracts, vol. i. p. 219. 

§ DrummoncPs Origines, vol. ii. p. 311. 

|| Hum. Res., vol. i. p. 28. 

If Major Mercer, in Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Quebec, vol. i. p. 
255. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 407 

as a substitute for letters in representing their language by a 
kind of hieroglyphical record."'" It is interesting to observe in 
both continents, the similar forms which certain arts and cus- 
toms have assumed, by a decline in civilization — the change 
from the knotted cords of the Mexicans, Peruvians, and Chi- 
nese, to the wampum of the Indians and Siberian nomades. 

The game of chess is clearly Oriental ; and Molina asserts, 
that it was known to the Araucanians by the name of ComUcan, 
and that they had possessed it " from time immemorial."! The 
sign of the rabbit led the Mexican year, and was of a divine 
character; in China, it was not only one of the signs of the 
zodiac, but was also sacred to the moon. In one of Grosier's 
engravings we see it as emblematic of the moon, represented 
as turning one of those cylindrical machines for producing fire 
just described, and which were used in China and America. 

Of the religion of the Chinese it may be stated without de- 
tail, that it appears to have recognized the existence of the 
Supreme Being, and the immortality of the soul: to have be- 
come ultimately degraded into the worship of the sun and celes- 
tial bodies, the worship of fire,± the consecration of animals, the 
• belief in numerous spirits, and the arts of divination and magic. 
The expiatory self-punishments, the rosaries and the divine triad 
remind us also of the various ancient cults, which have been 
considered.^ The reverence for the dead is here carried to its 



* Spark's Life of Ledyard. p. 251. j Molina, vol. ii. p. 10S. 

1 Drummond's Origines, vol. i. pp. 336. 3S7. Asiatic Res., vol. ii. 
p. 377. Davis" China, vol. ii. p. 102. 

§ " Fo is one person, but has three forms," according to the Chi- 
nese books. — Davis, vol. ii. p. 103. 



408 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



utmost extreme, for they absolutely worship, and sacrifice to 
the spirits of their ancestors. In the month of August, the 
Tlascalans of New Spain celebrated the festival of the dead, 
when they offered oblations for the souls of their departed 
friends ; in the same month, occurred the Chinese festival, the 
ceremonies of which consisted in chanting masses for the dead, 
and in making religious offerings for their use in another world. 
Similar superstitious rites were common among the barbarous 
aboriginal tribes. 

The Chinese style of architecture seems to have been formed 
after the model of the tent, but in some of the ancient struc- 
tures, and more remarkably still in the tombs, the form of the 
terraced pyramid is to be perceived.* The cemeteries often 
consist of three terraces rising one above another, and sur- 
rounded by a circular wall adorned with the figures of men and 
animals. Tumuli also appear in their burying grounds ; and 
it is said they formerly were accustomed to preserve the bodies 
of the dead by exsiccation, that species of embalming which 
was sometimes used by the ancient Americans. It was usual 
formerly, as in Mexico, to put to death a number of the re- 
tainers of a deceased emperor or noble, at his interment.* 

The remaining points of resemblance may be briefly de- 
scribed. The Chinese and Indo-Chinese nations, in common 
with the Mongols, delighted in dramatic entertainments ; they 
shave the head with the exception of a single ringlet upon the 
crown ; some of these nations still practise tattooing, for which 
others have substituted the custom of painting their faces ; 
many of the Chinese towns in the interior, are surrounded with 
earthen fortifications, the sides of which correspond with the 

* Barrow pp. 70, 222. 224. 227, 336. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



409 



cardinal points, and the gates of which are protected on the 
exterior by curtains of earth ; the Chinese costume is similar to 
that worn in some parts of South America ; their rule interdict- 
ing marriage between persons of the same surname, resembles 
the Indian prohibition against intermarriage between persons 
of the same clan ; quails were sacred birds among the Mon- 
gols, and they were sacrificed in Mexico to the Sun ; the 
roads, canals, and walls of the Chinese and Mongols, are anal- 
ogous to those of the Peruvians and Mexicans ; the skulls of 
enemies killed in battle were preserved as trophies, and con- 
verted into banqueting cups ; and the Cyclopean arch of reced- 
ing steps is to be observed in the Chinese buildings.* 

* Crawfurd's Siam, vol. i. p. 284; vol. ii. p. 9. Barrow, pp. 4. 61, 
63. Coxe, pp. 215, 223. Arch. Am., vol. ii. p. 109. Davis, vol. i. p. 
268. Thunberg's Trav., p. 204. Molina, vol. ii. p. 82. Du Halde, 
vol. ii. p. 250. 

On the altar of the ancient temple of Hercules at Cadiz, where 
a fire was kept continually burning, " quails were sacrificed because 
Hercules had been restored by them to life." — Bryant. 

The Chilians, as well as the natives of Darien and the West 
India islands, practised a method of taking water-fowl, precisely 
identical with that customary among the Chinese. — Molina^ vol. ii. p. 
23. 

' ; Our road," says Captain Andrew, "lay along the banks of the 
Rio Chico. The population along this road is entirely Indian, under 
a regular Alcade government, and they inhabit the luxuriant borders 
of a stream which are irrigated and cultivated with even Chinese 
economy. It struck me as curious, too, that their dress resembled 
the Chinese, as well as some peculiarities in their manners." " The 
head apparel of the working-class so much resembles the Chinese, 
that I almost fancied myself in the paddy-fields in the vicinity of 

52 



410 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



The Malays and Polynesians. The nations of these two 
great families present in their language, appearance, and insti- 
tutions, such deci ed features of resemblance, that it is impos- 
sible to resist the conclusion, that they are all of common origin. 
From south-eastern Asia appears to have issued that stream 
of population which has flowed to the numerous isles of the 
Pacific, and extended at least to Easter island, more than eight 
thousand miles from the shores of Asia, and within eighteen 
hundred miles of the American coast. On the other hand, 
these nations are assimilated to the Mongols, and though their 
languages differ, there seems to be good reason for supposing 
an original, but very ancient connection between them.* The 
brown colored tribes of Java, and other islands of the Indian 
archipelago,! though distinguished by several unimportant dif- 
ferences, belong, physically, to the same race — and we shall, 
therefore, without distinction, trace such analogies as may be 
discovered among any of these nations to the American abori- 
gines. The Malays use a rude species of knotted cords, resem- 
bling the quippos, as a method of recording and remembering 

Whampoa." * * " They secure their doors with wooden locks of 
the Chinese principle." — Andrews 1 Travels in S. Am., vol. ii. pp. 141, 
73, 78. 

* Barrow, pp. 34, 35. 123. 237. Marsden's Sumatra,, p. 296. 

f Their principal physical characteristics are a brown color, high 
cheek bones, small black eyes, long lank black hair, and scanty beard. 
i: These Javans," says Linschoten, "are of verie fretfull and obsti- 
nate nature, of color much like the Malayans, and not much unlike 
the men of Brasilia." — Linschoten' 's Voyages, p. 34, in Crawfurd. The 
New Zealanders tattoo their persons with certain " heraldic orna- 
ments." — King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 579. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



411 



numbers ;* in common with some of the Polynesian islanders, 
they tattoo; and compress and flatten the heads of infants ;f 
they formerly cut the hair short, some tribes shave the whole 
head, save a single lock on the crown ;J they pluck the beard ; 
and it was one of the early customs to distend the lobes of the 
ears to a monstrous size. Some of the natives of the Pacific 
islands interred their dead in a sitting posture ;§ others ex- 
pose them upon scaffolds, like some of the tribes of our western 
Indians ;|| they also practised a method of embalming similar 
to the American, the body being preserved by exsiccation, with- 
out removing the entrails. After being wrapped in numerous 
folds of cloth it was then interred, or placed upon the temples :1T 
these embalmed remains resemble closely the mummies found 
in the Kentucky caves, both in the method adopted for their 
preservation, in the wrappings or mummy cloths, and in the 
texture and fabrication of the latter. The skulls of the dead, 
as well as those of enemies, were often preserved in the family 
for many generations, as was the case also with the nations of 
the Indian archipelago, the Mongols and some of the American 
tribes. The Malayan and Javanese graves are frequently sur- 
mounted by a simple mound of earth. " Among the many cus- 
toms common to the Indian islanders," says Mr. Crawfurd, 
" there is none more universal than the veneration for the tombs 



* Marsden, p. 63. 

| King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 527. Marsden, p. 45. Porter's 
Voyage, p. 114. 

% Crawfurd's Ind. Arch., vol. i. p. 218. Porter's Voy., p. 111. 

§ Ellis' Polynesian Res., vol. i. p. 304. 

|| King and Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 567. 

f Ellis, vol. i. pp. 3, 5. Marsden, p. 287. 



412 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



of ancestors. When the Javanese peasant claims to be allowed 
to cultivate the fields occupied by Bis forefathers, his chief ar- 
gument always is, that near them are the tombs of his pro- 
genitors. A Javanese cannot endure to be removed from these 
objects of his reverence and affection, and when he is taken ill 
at a distance, begs to be carried home, at all the hazards of the 
journey, that he may sleep with his fathers. * * In Java, 
conformably to this feeling, there is an annual festival on the 
eighth of the month of Shawal, held in honor of ancestors." 
The ancient Malayan burying places, according to Mr. Mars- 
den, " are held in extraordinary reverence, and the least dis- 
turbance or violation of the ground, though all traces of the 
graves be obliterated, is regarded as an unpardonable sacri- 
lege." In the Pacific islands also, a festival was observed at 
the ripening of the year, similar to the American " festivals of 
the dead," when they prayed for the souls of the deceased.* 
In relation to another usage, w T e must again cite the testimony 
of Ledyard. " I have thought," he says, " since my voyage with 
Captain Cook, that the same custom (scalping) under different 
forms, exists throughout the islands in the Pacific ocean. It 
is worthy of remark, that though the Indians at Owyhee, 
brought a part of Captain Cook's head, yet they had cut all 
the hair off, which they did not return to us. I have also fre- 
quently observed the islanders to wear great quantities of false 
human hair. All savage nations are fond of preserving some 
badge or testimonial of the victory over their enemies of this 
kind. The ancient Scythians and North American Indians 
have preserved the scalps, and among the South Sea islanders, 
teeth and hair are in repute ; all of them giving preference to 

* Ellis, vol. i. p. 270. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



413 



some part of the head."* In the character of all these nations 
may be perceived that same fortitude and capability of patient 
suffering, connected with a spirit of revenge, which distinguish 
the American aborigine. Their courage, however, is not of a 
bold and daring character, but their military enterprises are 
conducted with great caution, and by frequent resort to artifice 
and stratagem. Captives receive but little mercy, and if they 
escape tortures and death, it is only to be placed in the bonds 
of slavery .f " The Indian islanders," says Mr. Crawfurd, " are 
passionately fond of flowers," and Humboldt makes a similar 
remark of the Mexican Indians. 

These nations believe in dreams, omens, sorcery and en- 
chantments, and have a superstitious attachment to relics. The 
curing of diseases is accompanied with spells and incantations. 
The priests are physicians, who like the aboriginal sorcerers pre- 
tend to an influence over evil spirits, which are the cause of sick- 
ness. They have amulets or images ; consult the deities, 
oracles, and sacrifices, for prophetic disclosures of the secrets of 
the future;J they wear masks in religious ceremonies ;§ and 
formerly human sacrifices were common. The custom of put- 
ting to death the relatives of the deceased, existed in the Indian 
and some of the Polynesian islands. " I have no doubt," says 
Mr. Crawfurd, " that one, parallel to that of the Natchez of 
America, prevailed, very generally, in the Indian islands, 

* Ledyard, p. 251. Porter's Voyage, p. 90. Tour through Ha- 
waii, p. 145. 

f Crawfurd's Ind. Arch., vol. i. p. 247. 

X Polynesian Res., vol. i. pp. 30, 34, 277, 283, 302. 

§ Marsden, p. 388. 



414 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



wherever arbitrary and despotic authority was fully established." 
Many of these nations believed also in the doctrine of the 
transmigration of souls, and in that of future rewards and punish- 
ments ; and they were not backward in the practice of austeri- 
ties and expiatory punishments. 

It may be added that the Cohans and other Brazilian tribes, 
the Araucanians and Peruvians* all wore the Po7icho,f which is 
indentical with the Polynesian Tiputa or cloak; that the South 
American and Polynesian girdles are similar ; that the Pacific 
and Indian islanders were skilled in the art of fortification, and 
constructed earthen or stone fortresses; that the same blind and 
superstitious adoration was paid to the person of their monarchs 
by both people ;J a species of vapor bath is used in some of 
the Oceanic islands ; they betray a fondness for dances, and 
these are often of a religious character ;§ that professed story- 
tellers, and dramatic entertainments afforded a principal amuse- 
ment; that some of the tribes w^ere skilled in the working of 
metals, and that one of the systems of enumeration presents a 
resemblance to the Mexican in reckoning by tens, twenties, 
forties, four hundreds and eight hundreds.|| The art of irriga- 
tion, and of cutting the slopes of the mountains into terraces 

* Henderson's Brazil, p. 213. Molina, vol. ii. p. 52. Ellis, vol. i. 
p. 186. 

f The Poncho is worn in all the provinces of South America, 
which I visited." — Stevenson, vol. i. p. 41. 
+ Ellis' Poly. Res., vol. iii. p. 81. 

§ The people of Celebes had their "war-dances." — Crawford, 
vol. i. p. 122. 

|| Crawfurd, vol. i. pp. 55, 120, 183, 241, 258, et seq. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 415 

for the purpose of cultivation ; the sacred enclosures or cities of 
refuse ; the art of making paper ; the traces of picture* or sym- 
bolical writing; the arabesques and meanders which are on 
the war clubs, and even tattooed upon the bodies of the natives 
of the South Sea islands ;f the earthen and stone tumuli ; and the 
pyramidical edifices, — all approximate these people to the Amer- 
ican aborigines,! besides many other customs which it is unne- 
cessary to detail,§ and the affinities in language and religion 
which have already been indicated. 

The Malays secrete their names like the Indians ;|| in the 
Indian archipelago the natives use the sarbacane, a long tube 
for dicharging poisoned arrows, which is precisely the same in- 
strument as the Esgaravatana, used by the South American In- 
dians who live on the banks of the Orinoco and Madeira rivers. 
The latter is described as a hollow reed through which enven- 

* The most ancient Javanese manuscripts were written upon 
leaves of the Loutar. which were strung together by cords. The 
Siamese were folded like the Mexican in a zigzag manner. 

f Lang's View of the Polynesian Nations, p. 230. 

| " Various points of resemblance might be shown between the 
aborigines of America and the natives of the eastern islands of the 
Pacific, in their modes of war, instruments, gymnastic games, rafts 
or canoes, treatment of their children, dressing their hair, feather 
head-dresses of the chiefs, girdles, and particularly the tiputa of the 
latter, which in shape and size exactly resembles the poncho of the 
Peruvians." — Ellis' 1 Hawaii, p. 441. 

§ The customs of the Huilli-che, the native inhabitants of Chiloe, 
on the American coast, it has been remarked are similar to those of 
the Polynesians. — King and Fitzroy. vol. ii. p. 33S. 
|| Marsden, p. 292. 



416 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



omed arrows are discharged by a puff of the breath.* Several 
of the plants and trees useful for food and in the arts are com- 
mon to America and the islands of the Indian archipelago and 
appear to be indigenous in the latter place. These are the 
yam, the indigo plant,f the banana, the arnotto, and the Sappan 
or Brazil wood. Tobacco is most extensively used in south- 
eastern Asia; Ledyard, who was never restrained from utter- 
ing a bold conjecture though opposed to the settled opinions of 
the learned, says of the " Tartars," that when they smoke the 
pipe, they " give it round to every one of the company. The 
form of the pipe is universally the form of the Chinese pipe. I 
expect to find it in America, since the form of the pipe on the 
tomahawk resembles it. * * As the Chinese pipe is found 
universally among the Siberian Tartars, I think it probable that 
the custom of smoking migrated with them to America, and 
thence by Sir Walter Raleigh made its way east to England." 
The tenacity with which this production has retained the origi- 
nal Haytian name in all parts of the world, tends to prove its 

* Crawmrd's Ind. Arch., vol. ii. p. 222. Henderson's Brazil, p. 
473. Hum. Pers. Nar., vol. v. p. 545. 

t The coloring matter of the indigo plant, in the Indian archi- 
pelago, is known by the Sanscrit name Nila. The Persian. Sanscrit 
and Arabic nil signifies blue. The indigo of the Kile is called Nile by 
the Arabs. Anile is said to be the American name for the same 
plant, from which the Portuguese Anileira was taken ; and so exact 
a coincidence has led to the belief that the American term is of Eu- 
ropean origin. — Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. p. 106. Crawford's Ind. 
Arch., vol. i. p. 45S. Mod. Trav. Guaiimala, p. 209. Drummontfs 
Origines. vol. ii. p. 79. The turkey is generally supposed to be 
originally from America : but Malte Brun says this bird is called in 
German the t; cock of Calicut." 5 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 417 

American origin, though the practice of smoking is claimed by 
the Chinese to have been customary among them from a great 
antiquity.* Humboldt and most naturalists have decided that the 
maize (Zea Maiz) " is a true American grain, and that the old 
continent received it from the new." Now according to seve- 
ral of the aboriginal traditions this plant was considered to be 
of a foreign origin ; for example, in Mexico, it was said to have 
been introduced by the Toltecs. It is true that by the testimony 
of Herrera and other Spanish writers, and by the quantities of this 
grain found in the granaries and huacas, there can be no doubt 
of its existence in America before the discovery. But the real 
question is, whether it was indigenous to any other portions of the 
earth. The name applied to it by the early voyagers was Tur- 
key corn, and for this reason Durante erroneously considered it 
as indigenous to Turkey. But M. Bomare ascribed it to Asia, 
and the testimony of Mr. Crawfurd is most explicit to the same 
point.f " After rice," he says, " maize or Turkey corn is the 
most important production of agriculture amono- the great tribes 
of the (Indian) archipelago. The word Sagung, which I im- 
agine to be purely native, is the term by which this plant is 
known from one extremity of the archipelago to another. 
There can therefore be little doubt, as in the case of rice, that 
one tribe instructed all the rest in its culture. As far as a mat- 
ter of this nature is capable of demonstration, it may ulsobe con- 
jectured that maize was cultivated in the Indian islands, before 
the discovery of America, and that the plant is an indigenous 
product. The name bears no analogy to that of any language 



* Bells Travels. 

f Crawford's Ind. Arch., vol. i. p. 366. Stevenson, vol. i. p. 44. 
53 



418 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



of America, although in respect to their other exotic productions, 
whether animal or vegetable, either the native term, or one 
which points at the origin of them, is invariably preserved in 
the languages of the Indian islanders."* 

Mr. Crawfurd has argued that the early civilization of the 
Indian archipelago originated from Java, and Dr. Lang, an able 
and zealous advocate of the common origin of the American 
and Polynesian nations, considers the Indian archipelago to 
have been the original point of departure. If this conjecture be 
correct, the era of the migration is to be placed in the earliest 
ages, and certainly before the period when the art of writing 
was introduced into Java. The relics of antiquity which are 
observed throughout the Oceanic islands favor this idea. " The 
nations inhabiting the islands of the Pacific," observes Mr. Ellis, 
" have undoubtedly been more extensively spread than they 
now are. In the most remote and solitary islands occasionally 
discovered in recent years, — such as Pitcairn's island, on which 
the mutineers of the Bounty settled, and on Fanning's island, 
near Christmas island, midway between the Society and Sand- 
wich islands, — although now desolate, relics of former inhabit- 
ants have been found. Pavements of floors, foundations of 
houses, and stone entrances have been discovered ; and stone 
adzes or hatchets have been found at some distance from the 

* In a recent work upon Egyptian antiquities, we find an en- 
graving of one of the Egyptian altar figures, " which holds in the 
right hand something which very much resembles a head of maize or 
Indian corn, — which, however," observes the author, "it cannot be, 
as that grain was introduced into Europe from Virginia." — Egyptian 
Antiq. : Lib. Ent. Know., vol. ii. p. 30. Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 397. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 419 

surface, exactly resembling those in use, among the people of 
the north and south Pacific, at the time of their discovery." 
The most extraordinary of these monuments are the temples, 
which are regular terraced pyramids, and which are found even 
in Easter island,* the nearest the American coast. In conclu- 
sion, Dr. Lang, on the authority of La Perouse and other navi- 
gators, and from his own experience, seems to have obviated 
the objection which has been opposed to the easterly course of 
the Polynesian migrations, in consequence of the usual preva- 
lence of easterly winds, by showing that at certain seasons of 
the year, westerly winds are not uncommon in certain latitudes; 
besides, this argument is based upon the supposition that these 
islanders have never been more advanced in the art of naviga- 
tion than at present, which is far from being demonstrated.! 

* Roggewein, in Mavor, vol. iv. p. 146. 

t There exists one tradition to the effect, that the original inhabit- 
ants came from the west, and brought with them several domestic 
animals. — Ellis, vol. i.pp. 99, 71. 



420 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PYRAMIDS. 

Ancestral Veneration was the most striking characteristic 
of the various families of the Red Race ; and in truth this reli- 
gious sentiment distinguished most of the primitive and culti- 
vated nations. Of the three methods of sepulture, inhumation, 
embalming and cremation, the first was the most ancient,* — the 
literal fulfilment of the original decree, " dust to dust." With 
the deceased were deposited articles destined for his use in ano- 
ther life, or emblematic of his profession and pursuits, and even- 
tually large portions of his wealth. When illustrious persons 
or chiefs died, the simple hillock over the grave was swelled 
into the mound or tumulus, the easiest and earliest method of 
commemorating his distinction/)- The sepulchral pile was then 
surmounted by a statue or pillar of stone. The Celtic mounds 
of the British isles are often found with immense blocks of stone 
on their summits ; " the pile or heap," says Dr. Clarke, " was 
generally nothing more than a lofty mound of earth, more rarely 
it was a magnificent pyramid. A square platform w T as left in 

* Monumenta Kempiana, p. 153. Pliny, vii. 54. Cic. de leg. ii. 
181. 

f It was a law of Odin that the memory of distinguished indi- 
viduals should be preserved in this manner : " Mandavit etiam, ut 
optimatibus magnos tumulos in memoriam erigerent." — Vide Led- 
wich, p. 42. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



421 



some instances upon the tops of these pyramids as a pedestal for 
the stele. This seems to have been the case upon the summit 
of the principal temple of Djiza."* Above the tomb of Por- 
senna, a series of pyramids was erected ; upon the tumuli of 
Achilles and Patroclus still visible near Sigeum, formerly stood 
stele ; the Polynesian pyramids were surmounted by statues of 
stone ; and upon the Mexican teocalli were the statues of the 
gods. It was a primitive usage to worship upon high places, 
and the tumuli, already sacred, would naturally be preferred. 
Indeed such uses originated directly from the feeling of rever- 
ence for the dead ; the eastern nations, even now, worship at 
the tombs of their ancestors ; and in ancient Italy, before the 
tomb stood an altar upon which incense was burnt. The tumu- 
lus thus became to be devoted to religious services, and temples 
were built on its summit ; but even in the more finished form 
of the pyramid, its sepulchral uses were still preserved. The 
Irish word cill or kill at first denoted a grave, and afterwards a 
church ;f Athenagoras styles the temples of the ancients Tayoi, 
or tombs ; and this name was afterwards given to the Christian 
temples, when the custom of burying the bones of martyrs in 
them was first adopted. J According to Bryant,§ the artificial 
mounds in Greece, Egypt and Syria were crowned with towers 
and temples; and the authorities are numerous among the an- 
cients writers which prove that it was customary to erect sacred 
edifices upon sepulchral tumuli.\\ The pyramids and mounds 

* Herodotus, ii. 149. f O'Brien. 

% Walpole's Memoirs, p. 231. § Bryant, vol. ii. p. 127. 

|| " Tumulum Antique Cereris. sedem que sacratam venimus." — 
jEneid, 1. ii. v. 742. " Et tot templa deum quot in urbe, sepulchra 
Heroum nnmerare licet." — Pradentius. in Davies. 



422 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



have sometimes been supposed to have been treasuries, fortifi- 
cations, and astronomical observatories, but the treasures usually 
deposited in the sepulchres, the care which was taken to pre- 
serve them from hostile attack and desecration by surrounding 
them with enclosures, and the preference for this style of tem- 
ple- building by the Sabean nations, sufficiently refute these 
ideas. 

We proceed now to trace these structures from the Old 
world to the New. The Temple of Belus, or Nimrod's tower, 
as it is now called by the Arabs, was a truncated terraced py- 
ramid, consisting of eight stories, three of which can still be 
perceived. It was constructed of burnt brick strongly cemented 
together, was surrounded at its base by a quadrangular wall, 
and had a tower upon its summit, the ascent to which was 
made by flights of steps around the edifice. Enormous mounds 
of brick-work on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, indicate 
that other structures of the same description formerly existed.* 
The Egyptian pyramids are the most ancient monuments in 
that country, and the epoch of their erection is placed by some 
so early as three hundred years after the deluge.f The pyra- 
mids of Jizeh are not strictly analogous to the American in their 
form, having been perfect cones probably cased from the sum- 
mit to the base.J But the sarcophagus found in one of them, 
the rectangular enclosures which in part surround them, their 
accurate position relative to the cardinal points, and the re- 

* Heeren's As. Res., vol. ii. pp. 156, 173. 
t Wilkinson, vol. ii. p. 256 ; vol. i. p. 19. 

X The expression of Herodotus in relation to the steps which ex- 
isted before the coating was finished is curious ; he calls them 
" altars." Lib. ii. c. 125. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



423 



mains of a temple in front of the second and third pyramid, all 
conduce to assimilate them to those of America, and to indicate 
their combined sepulchral, religious and astronomical uses # It 
is to be observed also, that the rocks upon which they are built 
are filled with catacombs, " the vaults of the hill," and the 
plains in their vicinity are called Kahi-Mhan, " the land of 
tombs," an appellation similar to that of the plains of Teoti- 
huacan, which are called " the Road of the Dead." But others 
of the Egyptian pyramids, and those which with some reason it 
has been supposed are the most ancient, are precisely similar 
to the Mexican Teocalli. As we proceed south from Jizeh to 
Saccara the style of these monuments changes, and they appear 
of every form, size and structure, from the simple earthen 
mound to the more perfect terraced pyramid.f The pyramid 
at Medun has a square base, and consists, like that of Cholula, 
of several retreating platforms or stages,! the lowest of which 
is about twenty feet high, and it is composed of sun-dried brick. 
One of the pyramids of Saccara is built with six terraces of 
stone, each twenty-five feet high and eleven \vide.§ Two py- 
ramids to the west of the pyramids of Jizeh, consist each of 

* The pyramids of Cholula and others of Mexico, and some of the 
great mound-temples of the United States, contained chambers and 
the skeletons of the dead. 

f ' ; Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. p. 309. 
The crude brick remains about Memphis are principally pyra- 
mids" crumbled into decay. — Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 50. According to 
Herodotus, Asychus erected a brick pyramid. 

X Denon says the number of platforms is five, and that they are 
composed of stone. Vol. i. p. 317. 

§ Clarke, vol. iii. p. 108. 



424 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



four receding platforms, which are ascended by high narrow 
steps : the summits are platforms.* The pyramids of Abousir 
are formed of brick, and four miles to the south of Saccara is 
one constructed of the same material, but in a dilapidated state; 
sufficient remains, however, to show that it consisted of five, if 
not six terraces, each ten feet broad and thirty feet high ; the 
height of the whole is one hundred and fifty feet.f All these 
edifices face the cardinal points.J The porticoes of the Nubian 
pyramids indicate their use as temples, and one of the largest 
" has been built in stories, but is most curious from its contain- 
ing within itself another pyramid of a different age, stone and 
architecture,"§ and which reminds us of the double tower of 
Palenque. 

it is interesting to perceive the same type in the tombs of 
the brown colored race of Madagascar. A mound of earth is 
thrown up over the grave, which " is surrounded by a curb of 
stone work, and a second and third parapet of earth is formed 
within the lower curb or coping, generally from twelve to 
eighteen inches in height, each diminishing in extent as they 
rise one above another, forming a flat pyramidical mound of 
earth, composed of successive terraces with stone facing and 
border, and resembling in appearance the former heathen tem- 
ples of the South Sea islanders, or the pyramidal structures of 
the aborigines of South America." The summit of these pyra- 



* Egyptian Antiq., Lib. Ent. Know., vol. ii. p. 238. 
t Pococke, p. 167. Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 131. 
I The same position may be observed even in the ancient temple 
of Jupiter Ammon. — Minutoli, p. 166. 
§ Wadclington, p. 176. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



425 



mids is ornamented with large pieces of rose or white quartz; 
and they are often twenty feet in width and fifty in length. 

India. Passing next to India, we there find that the oldest 
forms of the pagodas are pyramidical, a feature of Hindoo ar- 
chitecture, which distinguishes it strongly from that of the 
greater part of Asia, wmere the tent has been the object of imi- 
tation.* At the present period, small earthen tumuli abound in 
the vicinity of the villages of Bengal; brick pyramids are occa- 
sionally encountered; and most of the pagodas of the Carnatic 
are either complete or truncated cones. At Benares, there is a 
pyramid formed of earth, and covered with bricks ; and another 
composed of brick work, which has been originally cased with 
stone ; the size gradually diminishes, and the summit is a 
mere mass of ruins.f 

At Hansi, one hundred and twenty-six miles from Delhi, is 
a structure in the shape of a truncated pyramid, one hundred feet 
in height. The exterior slope of each side is faced with brick, 
and inclines at an angle of seventy-two degrees ; — the superior 
platform has been in recent times occupied by a palace, but 
probably this monument was anciently a temple. 

Upon the Ganduck river is a singular edifice, likewise 
constructed with brick. Its shape is that of a cylinder placed 
upon a truncated cone : the diameter of the base is three hun- 
dred and sixty feet, and the height of the whole cne hundred 
and fifty-seven. 

At Sehwan, a place of great antiquity upon the Indus, is an 
enormous oval mound of earth, surrounded from the base to the 

* Heeren's As. Res., vol. iii. p. 68. 

t Mod. Trav. Ind., vol. vi. p. 262 ; vol. viii. p. 85. 

54 



426 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



summit with a brick wall. It is twelve hundred feet long, 
seven hundred and fifty broad, and is said to resemble the tower 
of Belus.* In Nepaul, upon a hill called Simbi, are some 
tombs of the Lamas and people of distinction, several of which 
are pyramids finely ornamented and sculptured. 

The pagoda has been originally formed upon the model of 
the pyramid. Those of Deogur, in the vicinity of Ellora, three 
in number, are built with huge blocks of stone placed one upon 
another so as to form a pyramid, the summit of which is crowned 
with the trident of Mahadeva.f The beautiful pagoda of Tan- 
jore two hundred feet high, that of Madura, and the black pa- 
goda of Juggernaut are all pyramidical edifices of hewn stone 
piled up in large masses. One of the improvements in the con- 
struction of the pagodas, is the enclosure or wall, which was 
subsequently added, surrounding the base, and composed of brick 
or stone. These contained large areas, and their sides faced 
the cardinal points. The entrances to the pagodas of Raim- 
seram, which are surrounded by walls, are in the shape of a 
truncated pyramid, and similar to the Egyptian propyla. The 
more ancient Hindoo temples bore no inscriptions or sculptures, 
but the outer walls of others are covered with figures of ani- 
mals, men and gods, like the Mexican, and subsequently, whole 
scenes from the great epic poems were added. J 

The ancient temples of Hindoo origin in Java, are of the 

* Burne's Travels in Bokhara. 

f Heeren's As. Res., vol. iii. p. 74, etc. 

X The word pagoda is by some said to be derived from Bhagavati, 
"Holy house;" by others, from the Persian Putkedeh, "House of 
idols." The Sanscrit appellation Devalaya signifies " House of the 
gods," a name similar to the Mexican. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



427 



same character. They are almost all pyramidal buildings, and 
are composed either of brick or stone, — the outer surface of 
the stone temples has been coated with a fine stucco, and in 
the interior is to be perceived the Cyclopean arch. They are 
constructed with great solidity, they face the cardinal points, 
and the walls are covered with sculptures which have been exe- 
cuted after they were laid, as the same figure or group occupies 
several blocks. The groups of temples, called e£ the thousand 
temples " are pyramidal ; they are approached, through " four 
entrances facing the cardinal points of the compass, and each 
guarded by two gigantic statues representing warders." " The 
temple of Boro Budur, situated in the mountain and romantic 
land of Kadu, is a square building, of a pyramidal shape, end- 
ing in a dome. It embraces the summit of a small hill, rising 
perpendicularly from the plain, and consists of a series of six 
square ascending walls, with corresponding terraces, three cir- 
cular rows of latticed cages of hewn stone, in the form of bee- 
hives, and finally, of the dome already mentioned. * * * 
There is no concavity except in the dome. The hill is in fact a 
sort of nucleus for the temple, and has been cut away and fash- 
ioned for the accommodation of the building."* The same au- 
thor, from whom this description is taken, mentions another 
class of Javanese temples. " They may generally be described," 
he says, " as consisting of a succession of terraces, for the re- 
ception of which, the sides of the mountain are scooped out. 
There are three of these terraces at Sukuh, and no less than 
twelve at Katto, The length of the terraces at Sukuh is no 
less than one hundred and fifty -seven feet, and the depth of one 
of them eighty. The entrance at Sukuh, is by a flight of steps 



* Crawfurd, vol. ii. p. 198. 



428 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



through a triple portal. At K^tto we have similar ones, up to 
the twelfth or last. The terraces are chiefly occupied by statues 
and sculptured figures of animals."* 

The Chinese style of architecture is probably imitated from 
the tent, but in the cemeteries and more ancient temples, we re- 
cognise the graduated pyramid. This is particularly the case 
in the construction of the altar to heaven in Pekin. This edi- 
fice stands in a square enclosure, three miles in circuit. The 
terrace consists of three stages, diminishing from one hundred 
and twenty to sixty feet in width, each stage being surrounded 
by a marble balustrade, and ascended by steps of the same ma- 
' terial.f 

The temples or Marais of the Polynesians, were of a pyra- 
midal form, and encompassed with stone enclosures.^ These 
pyramids were composed in steps or terraces, with a level area 
upon the summit, and were often of large dimensions. The 
graduated pyramid of Atehuru was two hundred and seventy 
feet long, ninety-four wide at the base, and fifty feet high. 
The outer stones consisted of coral and basalt, were well hewn, 
and regularly laid. Another temple still standing at Maeva is 
one hundred and twenty feet square, and one at Ruapua, in 
Owyhee, is formed of immense blocks of lava, and is one hun- 
dred and fifty feet long by seventy broad. § Easter island con- 
tains the most remarkable structures of this kind. They are all 
erected with layers of stone cut with great precision, and upon 
their summits are enormous colossal statues of the same mate- 
rial, some of them twenty-seven feet high, and representing 



* Crawfurd, vol. ii. p. 199. 

% Ellis, Pol. Res., vol. i. p. 261. 



t Davis' China, p. 362. 
§ Ellis, vol. iv. p. 101. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



429 



human figures.* Of these Mr. Ellis gives us the following de- 
scription. " The most remarkable objects in Easter island, are 
its monuments of stone work and sculpture, which, though rude 
and imperfect, are superior to any found among the more nu- 
merous and civilized tribes inhabiting the South Sea islands. 
These monuments consist of a number of terraces, or platforms, 
built with stones, cut and fixed with great exactness and skill, 
forming, though destitute of cement, a strong durable pile. On 
these terraces are fixed colossal figures or busts. They appear 
to be monuments erected in memory of ancient kings or chiefs, 
as each bust or column had a distinct name. One of these, of 
w T hich Forster took the dimensions, consisted of a single stone, 
twenty feet high and five wide, and represented a human figure 
to the waist; on the crown of the head a stone of cylindrical 
shape was placed erect ; this stone was of a different color from 
the rest of the figure, which appeared to be formed of a kind of 
cellular lava. In one place seven of these statues or busts stood 
together : one which they saw lying on the ground was twenty- 
seven feet long, and nine in diameter."f 

* Ellis, vol. iii. p. 242. Beechey's Nar., pp. 30, 37, etc. 
f Ellis, vol. iii. p. 325. 



\ 



430 RESEARCHES INTO' THE ORIGIN AND 



CHAPTER XII. 

CONCLUSION. 

The facts adduced in the course of the preceding investiga- 
tion tend, it is conceived, to support the following conclusions : 

I. That the three great groups of monumental antiquities 
in the United States, New Spain, and South America, in their 
style and character present indications of having proceeded from 
branches of the same human family: 

II. That these nations were a rich, populous, civilized and 
agricultural people ; constructed extensive cities, roads, aque- 
ducts, fortifications, and temples; were skilled in the arts of 
pottery, metallurgy, and sculpture; had attained an accurate 
knowledge of the science of astronomy ; were possessed of a 
national religion, subjected to the salutary control of a definite 
system of laws, and were associated under regular forms of gov- 
ernment : 

III. That from the uniformity of their physical appearance ; 
from the possession of relics of the art of hieroglyphic painting ; 
from universal analogies in their language, religion, traditions, 
and methods of interring the dead ; and from the general preva- 
lence of certain arbitrary customs, nearly all the aborigines ap- 
pear to be of the same descent and origin ; and that the bar- 
barous tribes are the broken, scattered, and degraded remnants 
of a society originally more enlightened and cultivated : 

IV. That two distinct ages may be pointed out in the his- 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



431 



tory of the civilized nations — the first and most ancient, subsist- 
ing for a long and indeterminate period in unbroken tranquillity, 
and marked towards its close by the signs of social decadence ; 
the second, distinguished by national changes, the inroads of 
barbarous or semi-civilized tribes, the extinction or subjugation 
of the old and the foundation of new and more extensive em- 
pires: and, 

' 1 V. That the first seats of civilization were in Central Amer- 
ica, whence population was diffused through both continents, 
from Cape Horn to the Arctic Ocean. ' 

In relation to the question of their origin, it appears : 

I. That the Red race, under various modifications, may be 
traced physically into Etruria, Egypt, Madagascar, ancient 
Scythia, Mongolia, China, Hindoostan, Malaya, Polynesia, and 
America, and was a primitive and cultivafed branch of the hu- 
man family : and, 

II. That the American aborigines are more or less con- 
nected with these several countries, by striking analogies in 
their arts, their customs and traditions, their hieroglyphical 
painting, their architecture and temple-building, their astro- 
nomical systems, and their superstitions, religion, and theocrat- 
ical governments. 

It has long been a favorite theory, to trace the aborigines 
to a Tartar or Mongol migration from Siberia, by Behring's 
straits. But the Mexicans and Peruvians resemble the culti- 
vated nations of Oriental Asia, even more closely than do the 
ruder tribes, the Siberian nomades ; in fact they are all of the 
same race, and both in Asia and America, a decline into bar- 
barism has produced analogous developments, which in connec- 
tion with the relics of their ancient religion and customs, nearly 



432 



RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 



assimilate the savages of both continents. It is not to be de- 
nied that there are some tribes in North America, w hich may- 
have proceeded in modern times from Siberia, for example, the 
Chippewyans,* and perhaps the Sioux, the Qsages, Pawnees,f 
and some of the north-western nationsj but even in relation to 
these, the proof depends mainly upon vague and uncertain tra- 
ditions. But to suppose that the Mexicans, the Toltecs, the 
Chiapanese, the Mayas and the Peruvians, were the descend- 
ants of such degraded and savage hordes as occupy north- 
eastern Asia ; or that they wandered from more southern Asi- 
atic countries through the cold and inhospitable regions of the 
north, without leaving any vestiges of civilization on their 
way, appears equally contrary to experience and philosophy. 
The ancient monuments in Siberia are situated to the west and 
to the south, those of America are limited in their extent on the 
north-west ; and in spite of the facility of communication af- 
forded by the contiguity of the two continents in that direction, 
these facts would seem to be decisive of the question. On the 
other hand, the evidences of an early knowledge of the com- 
pass in China, of the great maritime skill of the Malays and of 
their navigation, in remote ages, of the Asiatic seas, the facts 
stated in relation to the peopling of islands by the accidental 
drifting of canoes, and more than all, the actual proof of the 
distribution of population over the numerous and distant islands 
of the great Pacific, from Asia to Easter island, render it unne- 
cessary to resort to the violent hypothesis of a northern route. 
What greater obstacles were there, to impede a passage from 



* McKenzie's Journal, pp. 387, 113. 

f Pike's Expedition, part i. p. 63 ; part ii. p. 9, 14. 

\ Sauer, pp. 160, 177. Coxe, pp. 151, 257. 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



433 



Easter island to the American coast, than attended a migration 
to Easter island 1 Indeed this island itself appears to have 
been successively occupied by different families ; and its pyra- 
midical edifices, and its colossal obelisks and statues are closely 
analogous to the American monuments. 

When and by whom was America peopled ? This interest- 
ing question, if it shall ever be solved, of course can be answer- 
ed only in a general manner. The character of American 
civilization is not wholly indigenous. Its mutual diversities are 
no more than might naturally arise when nations of the same 
stock are separated ; its uniformities are great and striking, and 
exhibit, in common, an astonishing resemblance to many of the 
features of the most ancient types of civilization in the Eastern 
hemisphere. The monuments of these nations were temples 
and palaces ; their temples were pyramids ; their traditions were 
interwoven with cosmogonical fables, which still retained relics 
of primitive history ; and their religion was sublime and just in 
many of its original doctrines, though debased in their super- 
stitious abuse and corruption. In all this there is nothing 
modern, nothing recent ; these features are not strictly Hindoo, 
Egyptian, or Chinese, though they approximate the aboriginal 
civilization to that of each of these nations. The origin of this 
resemblance is to be traced back to the earliest ages, when these 
great nations first separated, and carried into Egypt, Hindoostan, 
China and America, the same religion, arts, customs and insti- 
tutions, to be variously modified under the influence of diverse 
causes. The great diversity of American languages, the few 
analogies they present to those of the old world ; the absence 
of the use of iron ; certain peculiarities in their astronomical 
systems ; and some of their own traditions which have preserv- 

55 



434 RESEARCHES INTO THE ORIGIN AND 

ed the memory of the great events of ancient sacred history, 
and attribute the colonization of the continent to one of those 
tribes who were present at the dispersion of mankind, all tend 
to support this position. The Red race, then, appears to be a 
primitive branch erf the human family, to have existed in many 
portions of the globe, distinguished for early civilization ; and 
to have penetrated at a very ancient period into America. The 
American family does not appear to be derived from any nation 
now existing ; but it is assimilated by numerous analogies to 
the Etrurians, Egyptians, Mongols, Chinese, and Hindoos; it 
is most closely related to the Malays and Polynesians; and the 
conjecture possessing perhaps the highest degree of probability, 
is that which maintains its origin from Asia, through the In- 
dian archipelago. 

The most remarkable peculiarity in the institutions of all 
these nations, is their religious character. Laws, government, 
the arts and sciences, and the whole routine of private and public 
affairs were under the direction of the priesthood. Thence 
several consequences flowed, — the preservation from a rapid 
decline into barbarism, so long as religion retained its suprema- 
cy, — the utter absence of all progression and improvement, — 
and the stereotype character of the whole system of society. 
The sciences were occult, long religious probations were neces- 
sary before their principles were taught, and thus no generation 
possessed an advantage over the preceding one. Knowledge 
and civilization were not animate and instinct with natural 
warmth and vigor, but were embalmed, and like a shrivelled 
mummy, presented the mere outward form with none of the vitality 
of existence. From this continued religious subjection originated, 
also, that unchangeableness, that fixed and immutable character 



HISTORY OF THE RED RACE. 



435 



which distinguished all these nations, and which is a marked and 
prominent trait even of the savage Indian. An inflexibility 
which adheres tenaciously to old forms and customs, and des- 
pises change ; which may be overpowered, but never yields ; and 
which, in view of the dreary impending fate of the aborigines, 
possesses an air of melancholy grandeur ; for, as one of those 
coming events which " cast their shadows before," the absolute 
extinction of this ancient race seems to be rapidly and irresistibly 
approaching. Upon this continent, the pure types of the new and 
the old era of civilization have met and encountered each other. 
The family presenting the one, having occupied this vast region 
for countless ages undisturbed by the approach of other and 
modern races, had been allowed the amplest scope for develop- 
ment. And yet at the discovery the greater portion of the con- 
tinent was inhabited by savage hordes; within the United States, 
the barbarous tribes appear to have been greatly depopulated, 
and the ancient and cultivated nations to have become extinct; 
even in Mexico and Peru the civilization of the first ages seems 
to have surpassed that of later times, and society generally was 
in a state of decadence. The old system, — its moral and social 
elements, — its capacity for self-improvement, — had thus been 
fairly tried and tested ; and the time had arrived when a new 
race, and the Christian religion, were appointed to take posses- 
sion of this soil. 



THE END. 




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